User`s manual

User’s Manual
– 1 –
1
FriendlyShare™ Internet Sharing
Chapter 1: Introduction to Home Networking
Features, Benefits, and Requirements
Welcome to the world of home computer networking. Asanté Technologies offers the home computer owner the
means to simply and inexpensively link home computers into a Local Area Network (LAN), enabling the home user to
take advantage of the potential offered by shared resources. This potential has, until recently, been available only to
the business community due to factors of cost and required technical knowledge. Now Asanté Technologies provides
solutions to both of these issues and gives the home computer owner low cost and simple access to these benefits.
There is one very important reason for connecting separate home computers to establish an in-home network: shared
resources. An in-home network allows multiple computers to exchange information and share resources (printers, disk
drives, Internet connection, etc.). Each of these network implementations has its own unique set of features as well as
minimum system requirements.
In the past, Local Area Networks were confined to the business world. The cost of the hardware and software and the
complexity of their setup made home LANs difficult for the average home computer user to create. Advances in
technology brings the functionality of a corporate LAN into the home without the traditional concerns of the past.
Internet Access
With all of its advantages, a local area network has one drawback. It’s local. You are cut off from
the rest of the world. Without some connection to the outside, you can only communicate with computers that are part
of the local network. It would be nice if you could somehow “link” your home network to the Internet.
Inside the Asanté's FriendlyShare package is a powerful software program that allows an entire network to access the
Internet through a single connection. With a modem, ISDN, xDSL or a cable modem connection, an ISP (Internet
Service Provider) account, and the FriendlyShare software, you can have one computer act as the “gateway” to the
Internet for the other computers in the home. Every computer can have simultaneous access to the Internet, with no
complicated network IP addresses to assign or obscure protocols to learn. Just install the software and answer a few