Home networking basics

[waterguy]

Good Day,

I've recently purchased a new laptop, and would like to "network" my laptop and my desktop for the purposes of sharing files and the printer. I know I need a network card in each computer. Do I also need a router (hub??) ?? Can the linking be done without it ?

The laptop is running Windows XP, and the desktop Windows 98. Are there any problems associated with networking these different operating systems ?

Any information or recommendations you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

John

 

[Comtech]

You don't need a HUB or ROUTER, just a "crossover cable", available at any decent shop. Put a NIC in each machine, run the crossover cable, and install NETBEUI on both machines. After the restarts, open Explorer, right click on whatever drives/folders you want to share, and select "sharing" and set them up.
A decent basic tutorial is at

http://www.homenethelp.com/

Cheers,
Jim

http://members.cnx.net/reboot/

 

[waterguy]

Thanks Comtech,

The website you suggested was very informative. I have one other question. I noticed on that site that there was some discussion about NETBEUI not being available (or working) for Windows XP operating system. Is this true ? If I have one Win95 and one XP, and XP won't accept NETBEUI, what other "protocal" (sorry, I'm not familiar with networking lingo) should be used for both machines ?

Thanks.

John
(a fellow Canuck by the way)

 

[Comtech]

It is available, it's in the \VALUEADD\MSFT\NET\NETBEUI folder on the Windows XP CD, and instructions on how to install it as well.
It works beautifully, but you must turn off the built in firewall. Cheers,
Jim

http://members.cnx.net/reboot/