Let your network entertain you
At PC Magazine, we've been talking about "media convergence" for years. Network-based home entertainment devices like TiVo and Microsoft's Media Center PC . . . make a home LAN more useful than ever. Chapters 2 and 12 show you how they work.
Ready to set up a network that maximizes your digital media?
Here's the hands-on guide you've been looking for
You don't need a doctorate in computer science to set up a home network, but a little friendly advice sure won't hurt. This easy-to-follow guide is the next best thing to moving PC Magazine's Les Freed into your guest room for a week. Les takes you shopping for the right equipment, helps you put it together, offers pointers on security, and most importantly, leads you right to where the fun begins.
Learn cool stuff you can really use
- Discover what a network lets you do (it's a lot more than sharing a printer!)
- Learn to speak the language so you can buy exactly what you need
- Hook up Windows®, Mac OS® X, and laptop computers into a single network
- Share photos, video, recorded TV, and music collections
- Mix and match wired and wireless components for the LAN that's right for you
- Lock out cyber-intruders with the right firewall
- Add your game machine, TiVo®, and big-screen TV to your network
- Know how to find and fix network problems
- Let your LAN manage your home security system
- Explore and experiment with Les Freed's Networking Cookbook
About the Author
Les Freed has been a contributing editor at
PC Magazine since 1994 and a frequent contributor since 1990. Before joining
PC Magazine, Les was founder and CEO of Crosstalk Communications, developers of the popular Crosstalk data communications program for PCs—back in the days before the Internet made communications software obsolete. Prior to founding Crosstalk, Les was a Senior Technician and Videotape Editor at CBS News from 1976 to 1981 and a Cameraman and News Editor at WTVJ-TV in Miami from 1972 to 1976. He graduated from the University of Miami in 1974 with B.A. in Electronic Journalism. Les is the author or co-author of 14 books on networking, computing, and digital photography.
Les and long-time collaborator Frank Derfler shared the 1993 Computer Press Association award for Best How-To Book for their book
How Networks Work, still in print in its 6th edition.