I want to set small office network which include five to six computers, one printer and also want to share the

Can any one explain the difference between the hub, switch, router, bridge in the sense of performance and application?

A hub and a switch are similar devices but differs in that a hub shares the bandwidth between users while a switch allows each user to have dedicated bandwidth.

For example, 5 users connected to a hub with 100 Mbps will share the 100 Mbps and get 20 Mbps each, whereas each user will get 100 Mbps when connected to a switch.

In older days, a hub was sufficient because data transmission was a lot less. The cost of a switch has come down a lot in recent years and you can hardly find a hub in stores nowadays. Most hubs in use in data networks are left-overs from a bygone age. However, some telcos still use hubs for their low costs.

A router is an 'intelligent' device that routes data packets to their destinations, via IP addresses. In every network, there is at least one router that is connected to the Internet because without it, data packets won't know where to go. On the Internet, data packets are passed from one router to another until they reach their final destinations.

A bridge is a routing device, such as the router mentioned above, that forms the backbone communications in a wide-area network. If a company has offices at several locations, bridges can be used to form the backbone link between the locations.

For the SOHO setup that you mentioned, you will need a modem/router (or just a router if you already have a modem), a switch with at least 8 ports and a print server.

You can get a 802.11g wireless router if you want to use wireless connections. Adapter cards must be installed in the PCs or you can use USB wireless adapters.

The print server is a small device that allows you to connect the printer to the switch. Otherwise, the printer has to be connected to one of your PCs. That PC must remain switched on in order for others to print and would have extra workload because all print jobs go through it.

Router= if you want to connect one network with another.
Switch= if you want to make local area network.
Hub= well atleast you must know about this ?

Hub and switch are almost same, these use for same perpose switch (100 mbps) speedy then hub (10 mbps) and both use for same LAN but router use for make conntection bettewen two LAN throw a WAN and Bridge a type of coonectivity make bett. two hardware eg. DSL modem wireless accespoint etc