Adding wireless laptop to existing cable Lan

[fasgadh]

Hi all
I have 4 PCs running on a 10/100 base cable lan and wish to add a wireless laptop to this network and access the Internet through one of the PCs.
All the PCs are connected directly by cable in a line (not using a hub).
I have no idea what hardware I need to do this and any suggestions including manufacturer/model would be greatly appretiated.
I know I need a wireless card for the laptop but dont know anything about routers or access points.Do I need these?
Thanks for any help

[glc]

Exactly what do you mean by "All the PCs are connected directly by cable in a line (not using a hub)"?

[fasgadh]

Thanks for reply
The best I can describe is all the PCs are connected together by ethernet cable with T pieces on each computer, the cable runs from one computer to the other via a T Piece on the back of the PCs, the end computers have the cable connected to one side of the T piece with a cap on the other side of the T piece.

[glc]

That sounds like a coaxial network - the cables all have BNC connectors, not RJ-45?

You need a wireless access point, such as a Linksys WAP11 or a WAP54G, and a corresponding wireless card for the notebook. The only problem is getting it to interface with the coax. Look around for an old Ethernet hub that has a coaxial BNC jack in addition to RJ-45 jacks, you will extend the coax run to it, and plug the WAP into one of the RJ-45's. I haven't seen one of those hubs in years, so you may have to do some digging.

If you are going to go to all that trouble, have you considered upgrading your whole network to 10/100baseT RJ-45 type Ethernet?

[fasgadh]

Thanks very much for your advice, I think I will upgrade the cable as you say to RJ45,I thought there would be a problem with that connection.
Thanks again