Tony: hope you get to the point where you do try Linux. It is best if you can do so on a secondary machine, so that when problems appear you will not lose a whole machine.

shiney sue: a router is a device that sits in a gateway between at least networks. A gateway is just that point where any two networks meet. It is the job of the router to decide which way to send an information packet, based on the current state of the network.

Typically, in a home router setup, the router sits between your ISP (in other words, the internet) and a home network. This network may be just one computer or a number of them connected in a network. Routers can be wired or wireless. In order to use the internet on a notebook computer without being wired to a network, then you would use a wireless router. The wireless router is connected through an ethernet cable to your modem, and is connected to your notebook by use of a wireless adapter housed in the notebook.

Hope that helps. As for prices, they vary tremendously. But they have come down quite a lot in recent years. You can look online at discount places . . . just google for discount home computing and electronics outlets. Or you can get them even cheaper through eBay, if you what to look for and how not to get scammed.

rafi