networking - what do I need?

I want to network my home pc's, 2 of them are multi boot with various flavours of linux and 2000/xp, and I want to resurrect a couple of old 486's and integrate them as well (if possible).

The 486's will be used with windows 3.11 as they are still quite adequate for 90% of my kids homework needs and overall quite useable for a lot of everday tasks. When I have the time/knowledge I may even load an older linux distro on one or two of them and try to use them as dumb terminals to access the more powerfull linux boxes.

My main goal is to have a pc available for everyone in the family, and being able to print a document from anyone of them to a common printer or printers. I know next to nothing about network backbones, but from what little I've read I understand that at a minumum I need a hub and nic's for all these machines to talk to each other. These seem inexpensive enough, but I want to make sure I get one that is compatible with the pcs when they are running linux, and am hoping for some pointers/suggestions from this NG.

TIA ps - for sharing an internet connection, I would also need a router, correct? (its a dial up connection) Received on Sat Feb 22 2003 - 12:59:23 CST