wireless: do i need a hub?

[quickblueink]

I just bought a wap11 access point (no router), its my first wireless endeavor. I don't have a network set up. I have 2 desktops and 2 laptops. All i want is to set up the WAP on one desktop, so the other ones can connect to it and share internet (dialup, tragically).
Anyhow, i plug the thing into my 3com adapter, and when i run the linksys config tool, it says it cant find it. It also says network cable unplugged under "lan" in my netowrk properties sheet. This is win 2000 pro were talking about.
As you may have already guessed, i am a networking moron. Do I need to buy crossover cables to connect to my wap11 without a hub? do i HAVE to buy a hub? The 15 year old punk at CompUsa said I should be able to change my settings in network places and make it work, but would;nt tell me how.
Thanks y'all,
M.austin

 

[WindowWizard]

What is your purpose of networking? File, printer and internet sharing? If that's it, then you can do that with just a hub (wired network) or each machine using a wireless connection, WPC11 for the notebooks and WSUB11 (or similar) for the desktops. (Assuming that all four machines are running a networkable OS like Win2K or XP.) By setting up a peer-to-peer network all machines are equal but one machine has the connection to the internet and shares that connection. If you have a cable or DSL internet connection, you can set up the cable/DSL modem connection to a cable/DSL router & hub (BESFR41 or the wireless version) and then have each machine connect to the router. Again, this will allow for internet connect from all machines as well as establishing a peer-to-peer network.

Check the Linksys web site for information on the different products and look closely at the "How to network" information (

http://www.linksys.com/edu/part1.asp).

 

[smylies]

quickblueink: yes you need to have a crossover cable for connecting the computer to the WAP11. WindowWizard is right that you need to have wireless adapters in your machines. Goodluck!!!