help me design my wired home network.

[freqmax]

You don't need lot's of ports on the ADSL modem. But then you have to buy a switch. But this might be a good idea anyway for any serious network usage.

So:

ADSL <--> Switch  <--> Outlet .. Outlet <--> Amiga/PC/etc..

The outlets should have 8P8C (RJ45) connectors and TIA/EIA-568-B wiring. In between you should use Cat.5 cable. Buy some cheap "chrone" tool. And pay attention to cable lengths!

10/100 Mbit/s ethernet only use 4 out of 8 wires. So it's possible to make use of a splitter. For 1000 Mbit/s all 8 wires are used. For cheap cable use UTP, for extra immunity you can use STP cable, beware that FTP cable as a different impedance and thus can create problems.

1000 Mbit/s is likely only used PC-PC for massive filetransfers, video etc.. If you install a PC as a fileserver, you can eliminate most storage requirements of the Amiga. Also don't forgett a firewall!

[freqmax]

I have to agree, go with Cat.5E or better, all depending on your budget.

10 Gbit/s might be overkill for home networking right now, but 1 Gbit/s is certainly handy. It's mainly down what your willing to spend. Equipment will be cheaper the longer you can wait. But cables and jacks tend to be more work to replace than a switch etc..

[freqmax]

There's a limit on how many switches that can be daisy chained or how high the hierachy can be.

[freqmax]

Wireless is nice, you get all kinds of cool interference with flouruscent lamps, TV, neighbours, solar CME, etc. Sharing all your data and access with anyone showing up in the neighbourhood. Trashes video and latency, caps speed at ~50 Mbit/s, expensive to expand.

[freqmax]

Rather:

A hub repeats everything from any node to all nodes on the network. (bad)

A switch is a smart hub that only repeats wire packets to ports on the appropriate port.

A router exchanges high level traffic between different networks. (slow)

[freqmax]

WRT54g is raher a switch and radio-AP that has a router in between them. In a way several boxes on the same circuit board.

Most hubs are gone.