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Can anyone tell me the simplest way to connect two pc's together at home, mainly for file sharing and printing if possible.
I have a copy of pcanywhere, is this useful in this situation? Have been advised to use null modem cable connected through com ports, but would like to hear it from the people who know best. Thanks in advance..
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If it aint broke it aint no fun!!!
If your computers are close you can use 2 NIC's and a cross over cable, setup file and print shairing in network neighborhood <sp?> then setup netbeui, and make sure that the workgroups on both computers are the same.
if they are further apart the cable costs more.
null modem cables are not the greatest but they do work, I just haven't done it outside of dos and it's tricky to describe.
The nic's are easiest for me to set up , someone else may have something eaiser for you.
Hope this helped.
Ed
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AAAAAHHHHHHH !!!! He's got shoes on his hands !
if you want to be really cheap - you can get a null modem cable, and so it that way. (serial to serial)
pc anywhere sies not apply
Thanks Kannibul, and yes, I do want to be cheap, Lol. Anyway, am I right in assuming that I dont need any extra software to do this?
And thanks to Mr. Nilde, but your advice is a bit out of my league at the moment, and I should have made it clear that I only need this on a temporary basis and don't want to spend too much on it, but I'll keep your reply for future reference....
Thanks again both.
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If it aint broke it aint no fun!!!
Assuming you are running Win 9x, NT, 2000....no extra software will be required. They come ready to network out of the box. You will just need to install the proper protocols off of the CD.
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Life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you react to it.
under add/remove programs...windows setup...communications....install direct cable connection
Well, if you have a male-to-male parallel cable, you can try using direct cable connection (directcc.exe). It comes with windows and is much faster than a null modem link. If you just want to do file "copying", especially on an older computer, you can run interlnk/intersvr on both computers.
However, the parallel cabel mode has serious speed limitations. If you are doing large print jobs, or sharing anything besides .txt and .gif files, you will be there a loooong time. 2 NICs with a crossed cable allows easy and fast connections.
A male-to-male cable usually costs $12, 2 NICs and a short crossed cable usually run for $45. However, the crossed cable setup is faster by several orders of magnitude.
I agree 100%Quote:
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Mr. Nilde:
If your computers are close you can use 2 NIC's and a cross over cable, setup file and print shairing in network neighborhood <sp?> then setup netbeui, and make sure that the workgroups on both computers are the same.
</font>
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"Dyin ain't much of a livin',boy"
[This message has been edited by Jallentino (edited March 13, 2001).]
The cheapest way to go and still have some speed in your communication is to install a BNC NIC in each PC, and attach via coax. Just share your drives, folders, etc., map if needed, and share the printers. Windrivers has a location on the main page for networking. It is really pretty simple. I do it all the time with small businesses and it works great. Your other choice is the crossover cables with a CAT5 NIC, but the crossover cables are more expensive. If you want to use standard CAT5 you can use a small hub and route everything together. Only about $30 for the hub and it works very good as well.
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Got a customer problem? Remember, the old proverb "walk a mile in another man's shoes"
At least you will be a mile away when they start complaining.
Quote:
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by protechpc:
The cheapest way to go and still have some speed in your communication is to install a BNC NIC in each PC, and attach via coax. Just share your drives, folders, etc., map if needed, and share the printers. Windrivers has a location on the main page for networking. It is really pretty simple. I do it all the time with small businesses and it works great. Your other choice is the crossover cables with a CAT5 NIC, but the crossover cables are more expensive. If you want to use standard CAT5 you can use a small hub and route everything together. Only about $30 for the hub and it works very good as well.
</font>
How do u figure 10base2 coax is cheaper that 100BaseT cat5? You can get a 10/100 nic for $10-15 anywhere (check on www.pricewatch.com), which is about the same price as a 10base2 card. Also, cat5 cabling is actually cheaper than coax, and you don't have to worry about termination. And why would you want to limit the speed to 10Mbps when you can get 100Mbps (200Mpbs for full-duplex) for the same price. The enitire cost for two nics and a crosover cable should be about $40 at most (assuming that that pc's less than 100ft away from each other). This is definitly the way to go. DCC over parallel cable is way too sloooow (about 1Mbps) and has distance limitations.
I will sell you 2 Ehternet cards and a crossover Cat 5 Cable for 40.00 Complete. I can make the cable any length. If your interested, email me at [email protected]
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"Dyin ain't much of a livin',boy"
[This message has been edited by Jallentino (edited March 13, 2001).]
I will do the same. $40.00 plus whatever it is for shipping.
Set up win95 on a 486 dx 33 laptop with 4 meg ram and a 120 meg hdd via a laplink once.
took 12 hours. win95 cd version. hdd to small to put the cabs on it.
used two mice once to do a make shift laplink in a pinch once to fix a damaged file system in a hurry. I call it "Mouse TO Mouse recesatation" PS only works with serial mice.
also network can be down for 25$ two old isa 10 mb card ofr 5$ used and a 50 foot cable for 15$
CAT5 cheaper than coax????Quote:
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Sorry_I_Win:
How do u figure 10base2 coax is cheaper that 100BaseT cat5? You can get a 10/100 nic for $10-15 anywhere (check on www.pricewatch.com), which is about the same price as a 10base2 card. Also, cat5 cabling is actually cheaper than coax, and you don't have to worry about termination. And why would you want to limit the speed to 10Mbps when you can get 100Mbps (200Mpbs for full-duplex) for the same price. The enitire cost for two nics and a crosover cable should be about $40 at most (assuming that that pc's less than 100ft away from each other). This is definitly the way to go. DCC over parallel cable is way too sloooow (about 1Mbps) and has distance limitations.</font>
50FT of coax, 2 NIC w/terms $40. Most of the time you can p/u a used NIC for next to nothing. I have a bunch laying around the shop.
50FT of CROSSOVER CAT5 and 2 NICS, is about $47.
I done both and the price is not much different, nor the performance.
Unfortunately ,if you use the crossover method, you are limited to 2 PC's. Using the coax, you can chain more than the 2 PC's in the future. The only way to do this with CAT5 is with a hub - more money.
Just my 2 cents, and maybe I am missing something, but there it is.
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Got a customer problem? Remember, the old proverb "walk a mile in another man's shoes"
At least you will be a mile away when they start complaining.
cat5 cable cost me 5 cents per foot, plus 25 cents for each connector. so 50ft cable would cost me $3.00 (which i would resell for maybe $5 tops). compare that to the cost for coax cables. yes, cat5 is cheaper as far as cabling is concerned. True, if you have old 10base2 cards laying around then it could be slightly cheaper to go that route, but I was comparing the cost of new equipment. I buy 10/100 nics for $10 including shipping costs, so my total cost for this would be about $23. Also, he stated that this was a temporary connection, so there is not need to worry about the added cost of a hub in the future. I'm not sure how you couldn't notice the speed increase. A 100Mpbs network can be up to 20X faster than a 10base2 network w/ full duplex enabled. This is very evident when transfering large files (which is the entire point of a network, most of the time anyway).
[This message has been edited by Sorry_I_Win (edited March 13, 2001).]