my mom is giving Rachal her computer, she wants to go onto the internet and do games and school work. How do we hook up both our computers up to the iinternet? I have dsl, so will this cost us an arm and leg?

You need a home router, such as the Linksys BEFSR41 (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00004SB92/002-0994022-3900860?v=glance). This will go in between your DSL CPE (the DSL modem) and your computer, and allow you to connect up to four computers.

Do I have to have both computers side by side for this? her computer is only going to be windows 98 does this matter and are these hard to hook up>? thank you so much!!!

Do I have to have both computers side by side for this? her computer is only going to be windows 98 does this matter and are these hard to hook up>? thank you so much!!!
Depends on how far you want to run the wires. Or you can get a wireless router. At the moment, my wireless router's got a Mac, two WinXP machines two TiVos, a printer, and an Xbox sharing the connection. Some are wired, some are not.

Setting up a home router is fairly easy. At least one computer should be connected by wire initially. Wireless is a bit more complicated, but not much.

I see, so I do not want to run wires all over so I will put her computer in the living room with mine ( I can also watch her on the internet.) so I buy this thing and we share DSL, does it cost me more tru the DSL company? thanks again.

does it cost me more tru the DSL company?
No. Unless your contract is very unusual, there are no limitations on how many computers you may connect to your DSL. You can't resell or allow public access, but inside your house it should be unlimited.

I am going to suprise my Rachal for christmas. She wants it so she can send pictures and stuff to her friends. Beings the computer will be by mne we shall access the web together :) thanks guys you were all a great help!
Now I need to know where there is a good message board for kids. :) she wants to chat so bad ( yeah she is moms kid :) ) and so I was wondering if there was a disney site for kids to chat?

I see, so I do not want to run wires all over so I will put her computer in the living room with mine ( I can also watch her on the internet.) so I buy this thing and we share DSL, does it cost me more tru the DSL company? thanks again.
Probably not. It's not likely they would know (or care) you are using a router to connect to the internet instead of a computer, especially if you have the router "spoof" the computer's hardware address. A few providers will want to charge extra (or try to sell additional bandwidth), but most realize that more users are using routers. Some even encourage their use by selling or leasing routers.

A router will also provide you with a simple firewall that can protect your computer from unauthorized access from the internet.

A router will also provide you with a simple firewall that can protect your computer from unauthorized access from the internet.
If it has a firewall built-in. Not all routers do.