A hub or a router?

[Hresvelgr]

My two friends where arguing about what to use in order to keep their ps2 and their computer online at the same time?

Personaly i have no idea what the difference is betwean a router and a hub and whats the best to use?

Any takers?

[SabZero]

A hub just forks the network up, while a router has some intelligence built into it. Also, you should compare hubs and switches, since routers are used in a different kind of situation (linking different networks).

A hub will repeat all packets basically, and a switch can be a bit smarter than that, only sending the traffic to the right port.

[Hresvelgr]

Oh uh.. so basicly both works for keeping a stable connection to both your ps2 and your pc at the same time?

[SabZero]

Yes, they all do that http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wink.gif

[Hresvelgr]

Hehe, thx SabZero for clearing that up, im a little slow when it comes to the technical stuff http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wink.gif

hopefully ill get my hands on the ps2 version tomorrow and start play!

[VioletSkye]

Router has the ability to "route" data packets to and from specific IP addresses. A hub will route all data (say from the internet for example) to each device it is connected to regardless of whether those packets are needed/requested by that device. Most all modern routers also have the ability to assign IP addresses to each device connected to it via DHCP. Both would work, however your ISP would have to assign an IP address for the PS2 and the PC and many ISP's only allow for 1 IP address (normally assigned to the first device after the modem/wireless gateway.) If that's the case then only one device would be able to access their network unless you paid for another IP address. A router will automatically assign the PS2 and the PC a LAN IP address since it will get the ISP's IP address. Factor in that the router will correctly route traffic to the machine requesting the packets and it is by far the better choice.