How do I set up a network?

In a situation where we have two or more computers which exchange large amounts of data, share a printer and are separated by 10 metres or more, setting up a network is the best solution. If you have never worked with a network, this may appear to be a complicated task. Nonetheless it is a lot easier than you might expect; in addition the cost of a pair of network adapter cards is not all that high and a standard Ethernet network can achieve data transfer rates of 10 Mbit/s.