My dad and I got the Linksys wireless router and a USB NAC for my computer.

There is one thing that the installation instructions neglect to tell us:

What kind of ethernet cables do we use?

Right now we have a cable from the cable modem to a card on my dad's PC. What kind is that? We have that cable and a crossover, but I don't know if a crossover is the kind we need.

So basically, we need two cables, we have two cables, but we're not sure if we have the right cables. Any help?

If you're going from the cable modem into the router, you likely need a straight thru cable. If your dads machine is going to hook up to the router, that would also require a straight cable.

So what is the cable that is currently connected from the PC to the modem?

Do you need a crossover to connect a PC to the empeg?

The cable going from the modem to the PC is likely straight. This has been the same on every cable modem and DSL modem I've dealt with.

Yes, empeg requires a crossover when going from empeg to PC.

I'd say just try the cables and use whatever works. If you use the wrong kind of cable, it won't blow anything up, it just won't work. I don't think you'll even get a Link light (although I'm not certain about that last one).

Something to remember about ethernet cables...

All connections between devices require a crossover (TX and RX swapped). It's just that most hubs have all of their ports already crossed-over at the hub ports themselves.

(Except for one port which is usually either switch-selectable or fixed as straight-thru, for the purpose of uplinking to another hub.)

So the most common connection (PC to hub) is a straight cable. But for most other connections, a crossover is needed unless they've designed the device with a switchable port or it's already crossed at the port.

Clear as mud?