Quote Originally Posted by A. Jorge Garcia
I'm on optimum right now, everything was recognized aitomagically.

What I'd like to know is how to add a router to my cable modem so I can run all my PCs as KNOPPIX boxes live on the net!

TIA,
The general procedure is:
1. Plug in router to power
2. Unplug the ethernet cable that comes from the cable modem to your machine that is connected to the net and plug it into the router.
3. Plug in the ethernet cables that go from the router to the machines that you want to connect to the internet.
4. Use one of the machines to connect to the router through the web interface that is usually used to configure the router with a browser. You should consult the documentation that came with the router to see what its IP is and make sure you put the machine that is connecting to it on the same subnet eg. router has an IP of 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 which is usually the settings then your machine connecting to it should have an IP of 192.168.0.2(up to 254) or 192.168.1.2(up to 254) and use for the broadcast .255 on the end of the 192.168.0 or 192.168.1 .
5. Configure the router to get it's outside (your internet connection) IP with the browser from your cable modem through either the static or dhcp settings that are used for your connection to the internet and make sure that you have the NAT (network address translation) settings turned on so you can share the connection.
6. Test that your connection works for the sharing after having configured the settings and if it works then configure the proper IP's for the rest of the machines to connect.
7. The most important part change the password on the router from the default so nobody can come by and hijack your connection and machines.
8. Go to http://www.grc.com and use the ShieldsUp port scanning utility to make sure none of your ports on any of the machines connected are open to the outside world. If any are use the routers configuration utility to close them down.