General network setup question + printserver wireless?

[faxij]

Hi, i read as much as i could in the forums, the wiki and elsewhere. that solved many questions i had.

yet still im not totally clear about a few things.

i'm getting a-dsl over a zyxel router without wlan. now, how do i go from there?
is it enough to go from the router to a switch, to which the hda is connected? (in order to be accessible to all other pc's - printserver,filesharing etc - switch simply because my main computer is next to the router/switch and thus wired that way)

then especially a wireless question: i cant install a only-wired network, there is no way.. *cry*, so i need to install wireless.

meaning, internet -> router -> switch -> hda is no problem. thats wired. but i need several computer's (win xp, vista, 7..all 32 bit) and notebooks to connect wirelessly - including printer-access.
how does that work? do i need to install a wlan-pci-card oder usb token on my hda? but then again, i read a lot about only eth0 being supported...
is it possible to connect a standalone wlan-accesspoint to the switch and then let other pc's connect wirelessly to the hda over this wlan access-point, including printing?

little bonus question: does the print-server also work with multiple printers?

i'm welcoming any solution
however, as i'm a student and linux-rookie i'd prefer low-budget and easy solutions

hope you can help me

christmas-ish greetings to all of you,
faxij

[moredruid]

Q: is it possible to connect a standalone wlan-accesspoint to the switch and then let other pc's connect wirelessly to the hda over this wlan access-point, including printing?
A: yes (this is the easiest way. Most people have a wireless DSL router (it also has wired network) and do it just like that)

Q: little bonus question: does the print-server also work with multiple printers?
A: yes

[faxij]

thanks, truly amazing answer *happy*

maybe one question in case there are some networking security / ipcop "experts" out there:
i got a fritzbox i'll try to hack (annex b to annex a), its a wlan one..

does it make sense to use the wlan of it? because then it'd be before the ip-cop, hence attackers could relatively easy access wlan and thus my hda? or is my thinking wrong?!