building a computer

1 - yes
2 - no, that's built onto the motherboard
3 - as long as the printer is connected to a computer which has the printer shared
4 - onboard NIC or PCI NIC

Quote: Quoted from here: http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/cisintwk/ito_doc/ethernet.htm

The term Ethernet refers to the family of local-area network (LAN) products covered by the IEEE 802.3 standard that defines what is commonly known as the CSMA/CD protocol. Three data rates are currently defined for operation over optical fiber and twisted-pair cables:

• 10 Mbps—10Base-T Ethernet
• 100 Mbps—Fast Ethernet
• 1000 Mbps—Gigabit Ethernet

10-Gigabit Ethernet is under development and will likely be published as the IEEE 802.3ae supplement to the IEEE 802.3 base standard in late 2001 or early 2002.

Other technologies and protocols have been touted as likely replacements, but the market has spoken. Ethernet has survived as the major LAN technology (it is currently used for approximately 85 percent of the world's LAN-connected PCs and workstations) because its protocol has the following characteristics:

• Is easy to understand, implement, manage, and maintain
• Allows low-cost network implementations
• Provides extensive topological flexibility for network installation
• Guarantees successful interconnection and operation of standards-compliant products, regardless of manufacturer

ok, thanks

Building a computer eh? I just built 2 this week. One of those was a dual processor Xeon.
1.)Usually once you have everything built, make sure that everything is connected. Check your front panel connections, make sure power switch is on the proper post and verify that your cpu fan is connected. Once you do that fire it up and see if it posts. If it does, make sure that it list the correct RAM, Processor speed, etc. If it doesn't, you might have to change something in the BIOS or update your BIOS. Change the Boot sequence to boot off the CD, stick your CD in, reboot and install XP. Make sure that you select the Quick Format and use NTFS.
2.) Mark answered correctly
3.) Yeah, you would have to go to the computer that it is connected to and enable sharing.
4.) I am not sure what you mean by this. Are you asking what is better an onboard NIC or a PCI one or maybe a USB NIC. There isn't really much difference between an onboard and a PCI one but a USB NIC is generally slower. This server board that I just installed had 2 onboard NIC's, one a Gigabit and the other a 10/100.

yea, my first one...

i was finalizing parts for the comptuer on tigerdirect.com and i came to NIC's...it listed a PCI NIC and an Ethernet Port NIC...not sure what the second one means, but, i was just thinking that one might be better than the other, you know, faster, but i'll be doing a PCI 10/100

Eeks, stay away from Tigerdirect. Use NewEgg. They are the best out there for parts and also ship FedEx Saver which I usually get in 2 days.

Here is how other rate TigerDirect.
Here is NewEgg's ratings.

What kind of specs are you looking to build? Make sure that you get a good case and power supply, Chieftec, Antec and Enlight are good ones.

i'm gonna be building an AMD 2100+ high speed computer...i got everything figured out

i ordered a firewire PCI card from TigerDirect before...good price, good shipping times, 3 days!