Simple LAN questions.

[Dinosaur]

Just finished building a second system. I put an Ethernet adapter in my old system, but have yet to install one in the new system. I only paid $30.00 total for the two cards, software, and a cable. Hence I have next to nothing in documentation.

When I installed LAN software on the old system, it did not complain about the absence of a connection to another system. When I have both Ethernet cards installed and connect the systems, will the software activate on the next bootup? Will the LAN software be inactive until I explicitly execute it? Will I need something in my startup menu?

While any advice on the above will be appreciated, I think I will be able to figure this out on my own with a little hacking. The important question for me is whether I should hook the two systems up as a LAN or go with LapLink for file sharing.

Must one system be a file server? I am more interested in sharing data files than sharing software. My girlfriend will use one system and I will use the other. There is enough disc space on the two systems to allow us to install commonly used software on both systems.

I prefer not to worry about network administrator functions, and I do not want to squabble with my girlfriend over customized features for shared software. When I worked for a large company, some of the standardization imposed by network considerations were annoying as hell.

I considered just using LapLink and a parallel cable to allow file sharing, but a friend talked me into using Ethernet cards. Now it turns out that he does not know anything about a LAN. He read an article in some magazine and liked the idea. I need a few more enemies and one less friend.

If I cannot have some symmetric LAN hookup, I might reconsider LapLink.

Any thoughts on the above?

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Gouverneur
Eschew Obfuscation!
If one hundred million people believe a foolish idea, it is still a foolish idea.

[bassman]

I think the concept of a network is a little deeper then just simple file sharing, especialy on two machines within reasonable reach of one another.
If both machines are running all common apps and you could easily swap via floppy or zip disks, theres not much need for the possible headaches with a network.
I am just learning about networks, so I don't want to give you any bad advice about setting up your specific system. I would recommend useing the full network setup though instead of the laplink approach.
good luck

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If a book about Failures doesn't sell, is it a success?

[sleddog]

I was just mousing for the "Post" button after writing a detailed reply to this thread this morning, when the power went out http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/frown.gif

Couple of points:

1. What type of network cards, BNC or RJ45 (or dual)? BNC are the round connectors, RJ45 are like an oversized telephone plug. With BNC cards all you need is a length of coaxial network cable, two T's and two terminators. For RJ45 you need a crossover cable or a hub (which you probably don't want to get into).

2. What do you mean by LAN software? All you need to set up a simple network is the networking components included with Windows. Avoid any third party stuff til you're comfortable with what your doing.

By all means hook 'em up networked rather than LapLink. Once you got the cards installed and recognized by Windows, and the correct cabling, getting two machines to be on speaking terms is *not* difficult.

So tell us what kind of network cards. And check Control Panel > System > Device Manager. See if the network cards are working correctly (listed under "Network adapters").


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sleddog
[sleddog.f2s.com] (http://www.sleddog.f2s.com)

[sleddog]

I knew I forgot something from my aborted morning post -- the soapbox http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

For home networking I *prefer* the "old-fashioned" BNC-connector, 10 mbit networking for basic file-sharing, because it's so flexible. Using this system you establish what's called a peer-to-peer network. Machines are networked in a "daisy-chain", one attached to the previous in a row. It's easy to add a new machine, even if its a temporary hookup. It avoids the expense of a hub if you want to use 3 or more machines. It's not as fast as a 100mbit network with a hub, but so what if it takes a few extra seconds to move a multi-meg file from one machine to another?

Many companies/organizations have upgraded their networking from 10mbit coax to 100mbit. There are lots of old 10mbit BNC cards out there... ask around. I found a bunch that were useless to the owner and got 'em for a song.


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sleddog
[sleddog.f2s.com] (http://www.sleddog.f2s.com)

[Dinosaur]

As far as I can tell, The two Fast Ethernet Cards are installed correctly and connected. The cable connection looks like an oversized Phone Jack plug.

Device Manager on new system shows 6 entries under Network Adapter, while Old system shows the same six plus a seventh entry. I installed software from a diskette that came with the Network cards. I think Windows Plug & Play installed additional software.

The old system had a problem with the Network Neighborhood Icon missing from Desktop. I installed Tweakui to retrieve it. Perhaps the seventh item under Network Adapter was the result of some of the unsuccessful clicking I did before using Tweakui.

It looks like all the hardware and software is in place, and all I have to do now is invoke some screens and fill in the right data. The order is probably important, so I am procrastinating about one or two functions that look useful and easy to do.

I do not know whether to delete the 7th item form old system or figure out how to install it on the new system. For the time being I will leave the Device Manager Display Adapter configuration as is. BTW: The 7th item is Microsoft PPP over ATM Adapter. My guess is that it will not hurt anything to leave it alone.

I wasted 1-2 days with the wrong book. Exchanged it and am about to read the new one. It looks as though it will tell the tale.

All I want is a simple Peer-to-Peer network for file and print sharing between the two systems. I hope Peer-to-Peer is the correct term for what I want.

I think I will try to figure out how to use NetBEUI protocol. One description of it sounded like what I wanted, but it is referred to elsewhere as a Dial-Up Adapter, which does not sound like what I want since the two systems are permanently cabled together.

While I am reading my book and installing other software, I hope one of you comes up with some good advice before I misinterpret the book and do something bad that its tuff to undo.

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Gouverneur
Eschew Obfuscation!
If one hundred million people believe a foolish idea, it is still a foolish idea.

[Ghost_Hacker]

Netbeui is the easiest Protocal to install as it needs no setup or configuration. It's also a very fast protocol and should work well for your needs. It can be installed to any network interface so that's not a problem. As for the other NIC card drivers install on the computer, I would just let them be if your not sure which is which. They won't cause any problems or slow down performance.


Hope this helps http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

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Comment heard from a Klingon programmer.

"Debugging? Klingons do not debug. Our software does not coddle the weak"

[sleddog]

Dinosaur,

Don't confuse 'adapters' and 'protocols'. An adapter is a device like a network card or, for 'dialup adapter, a modem connection.

Protocol is the type of networking communications which the devices use. For example your networks cards on the LAN can use Netbeui or TCP/IP protocol.

To connect those machine you'll still need a hub or crossover cable.

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sleddog
[sleddog.f2s.com] (http://www.sleddog.f2s.com)

[Randy_tx]

This site helped me a LOT http://www.helmig.com/j_helmig/mspc2pct.htm
My big problem was Mapping the Drives......I had fits trying to do it.....still dont know how http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

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I'm putting a new Fat32 partition in my Head Drive...hope it speeds me up.......

[Dinosaur]

Thanx for the help. It really helped. Your advice and the book I bought are getting me up and running. [B]Randy_tx,[B] the Site you recommended was excellent.

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Gouverneur
Eschew Obfuscation!
If one hundred million people believe a foolish idea, it is still a foolish idea.

[Ve]

Originally posted by bassman:
I think the concept of a network is a little deeper then just simple file sharing, especialy on two machines within reasonable reach of one another.
If both machines are running all common apps and you could easily swap via floppy or zip disks, theres not much need for the possible headaches with a network.
I am just learning about networks, so I don't want to give you any bad advice about setting up your specific system. I would recommend useing the full network setup though instead of the laplink approach.
good luck

hehe, I don't know what the rest of you think, but networks are one of the greatest inventions since ice cream vending machines. One of the biggest advantages to networking is the ability to not only share files but also internet connections, printers, and play eleventy billion different games one them. If you've got two reasonably fast computers close to each other, network them together and have some fun.






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Maybe it's the beer talking Marge but you got a butt that won't quit...They got these big chewy pretzels here..theyreorerawer Five Dollars?! Get outta here!