Basic networking

[glhenni@cs.sandia.gov (Gary L. Hennigan)]

I'm going to be setting up a small 100Mb home network soon and I'd
like some info/help. While I know plenty about Unix/Linux sysadmin, I
know next to nothing about networking. At first my network will
consist of two hosts, with a third host present intermittently (a
laptop that floats with me). I don't forsee ever needing more than 5
hosts connected to my home LAN.

I gather I need a HUB or a switch for anything more than two hosts?
Which one? I believe I understand the difference. A hub acts as a
simple amplifier. Any signal it receives on one of it's ports is
amplified and sent to all it's other ports. A switch, if my
understanding is correct, adds some smarts to the process and only
sends the signals to relevant ports. So if machine A sends a packet to
machine B that packet is only sent to the port that machine B is
connected to. Is there any advantage to a switch in a small home
network? Money, at this level, really isn't the issue, but I don't
want to spend extra money on a switch if it's overkill for a small
network and doesn't really buy me anything.

Thanks,
Gary