Austin Improv

Here's the situation: I've got four computers in various stages of functionality and platform. I mainly use two of them. The third I use rarely, the fourth not at all (because I removed the power supply and hard drive when the power supply died). I want to hook them all together somehow so my wife and I don't have to email files or walk back and forth between them with a flash drive.

My main machine is a PC, fairly new and powerful. It uses Windows XP.
My wife's main machine is a Mac laptop. I think it has OS-X.
I also have a mini-Mac (G4) which uses OS-X.
The fourth defunct machine is a PC that's a little older. If I put a new power supply and a hard drive back into it, it should work okay, if a little pokey.

Are there any tech geeks out there who could direct me towards hooking these machines together on a local area network within my house? I know I'll need some kind of router/gateway/firewall, plus a hub of some kind. But I don't know much past that.

If you believe there is a better solution that what I'm proposing here, please tell me that too. I'm wide open to suggestions.

Thanks for any tips!

Step 1) Get router with a 4 or more port switch built in. You wont need a hub then.

Step 2) Get cat5 cables (dont buy crossover cables, thats the wrong kind)

Step 3) Fairly uncomplicated instructions:

In my experience OSX is pretty quick to catch on to what's going on around it, so I'd reccomend going in and hooking up your main Windows PC first. There is a 'network setup wizard' or something you can run that will walk you through the setup process and is pretty simple.

Your router will likely not need to be messed with, with the following exceptions:
1) You have a PC that isn't OSX or WinXP
2) You have a wireless router (youll want to password it to keep away riffraff from jumping onto your network)
3) you are a hardcore gamer or you download a lot of movies or games through torrents

Once you run the setup wizard and restart, all you need to do is start sharing folders on your computers. On a Windows PC you just right click on a folder you want to share, choose properties, and turn on sharing under the sharing tab. I forget how to do it on a Mac but I believe it's similar.

Congratulations! Now you can do stuff!