Firewire and networking

So next year, a few friends of mine and I will be starting a file server next year. It will be a windows based server, and one of my friends has suggested that the file server motherboard to get a firewire card (1394) but I am a little worried, because the transfer rate is not real good. I am going to give a brief explanation of that which I would like to do. I believe that we have decide that it would be beneficial if we connected the server directly into the ethernet, and then share the connection to my laptop (an iBook G4). The problem I am going to run into, is will I be able to be able to sent packets/information directly to the server? Or would it be possible to put the ethernet directly into my laptop and then share the internet connection via firewire (I already know how to do this) and have other people that have the password access being able to access the server? If there are specific questions that you need clarification on, please let me know.
Thank you,
Don Quixote

Use ethernet,...and buy a router.

MacsWork said:

Use ethernet,...and buy a router.

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I am attempting to cut costs as much as possible, so it would be counter-productive to buy a router, I was just inquiring about that which I expressed in the first post. Thank you anyhow.