simple network

[fboxall]

I want to network a PC, a laptop, and a TV.  My PC runs Windows XP Pro.  It has a Realtek 10/100 Mb Fast Ethernet Controller and connects to my ISP via eight-pin RJ45.  My TV has an input labeled PC-DVI which is said to be "a DVI-I input compatible with both DVI-A (analog) and DVI-D (digital) inputs" and also two PC-DVI Audio jacks.  I plan to buy a laptop computer and then make wireless connections between laptop and ISP for browsing (in my easy chair) and wireless connection between laptop and TV so that TV repeats the laptop display.  I need instruction - how do I do that?  Please tell me or point me to a good tutorial.

[Rob Pomeroy]

The DVI input on your TV is for a wired video signal connection, not a network connection.  You will need a cable and this of course depends on your laptop having a DVI output (lower end laptops don't).

For your wireless connection, you'll need a wireless router or access point.  Your PC will need a wireless adapter if it doesn't already have one, and your laptop likewise.  Please post the specs of your PC and proposed laptop if you would like further assistance.

[fboxall]

Thanks for your reply.  As to the TV input, who cares whether the signal arrives via cable or via radio link?  What I need is hardware at the laptop that converts the laptop display signal to an outgoing radio signal and hardware at the TV that converts the incoming radio signal to whatever form the TV requires for display.  The question is: Does such hardware exist and where do I get it?

As to the PC, it does not have a router. I think it has a network adapter (Realtek) but not wireless.  I wonder if the PC needs to be involved.  Conceptually, it should be possible to provide a wireless link between the ISP port (which feeds the PC) and the laptop.  Maybe a wireless router does this, I am not familiar with them.  Would a laptop have the required hardware built in?

[Rob Pomeroy]

Laptops vary according to what hardware they have.  Most modern laptops have at least wireless G cards built in.

Your laptop-TV needs - you could pay a lot of money for that kind of thing.  I guess you could try an S-Video adapter and couple that with a video sender - but that would be crazy money compared to just putting your laptop next to the TV...  The wireless network used in computing would not serve this purpose simultaneously, anyway.