Help me to set up a network, preferably using firewire / 1394

[alexruiz]

I have 2 computer right now, and I want to copy files from one to the other. Both have LAN, so I could attempt it as last resort. I am clueless about how to make a network.

PC 1:
Biostar M7NCd Pro (NForce 2 400 ultra)
Athlon XP 2500+
Nvidia LAn
ATI DV wonder (firewire)
Win XP home SP1


PC 2:
ECS K7S5A (Sis 735)
Athlon XP 1700+
Sis 900 LAN
VIA PCI card for firewire
win 2K pro SP3


I want to copy some files from the 2K machine to the XP one (about 8 GB, no DVD burner). I want to link both of the machines together. At first, I tried to make a direct cable connection. Gues what? Even win XP ONLY allows direct cable connection using parallel or serial (RS232) ports....

Then, I connected both PCs to each other using a firewire cable. Win XP tries to make a home network, win 2K looks for drivers I tried to setup the network in XP (following the directiopns), but it detects the firewire network as "unplugged" I didn't know how to attack the 2k machine. I already searched form info, but all I got is "it can be done....."

Finally, I disconnected the firewire cable and connected a LAN cable to the LAn ports of each computer. Win2K did nothing, WinXP detected the LAn port as unplugged. I didn't know what to do next.


How can I make the 2 computers to talk to each other? I said preferably firewire for the added bandwidht, but 10/100 is fine if no other thing can't be done. No router available


Thanks

Alex

 

[Beattie]

Get a crossover cable and connect it between the computers.

Either that or get a hub and 2 regular cables.

 

[alexruiz]

Originally posted by: Beattie
Get a crossover cable and connect it between the computers.

Either that or get a hub and 2 regular cables.

You are speaking chinese to me man.....

What is a cross over cable?

 

[Matthias99]

Go to CompUSA or Best Buy. Go to the section full of ethernet cables. Some of the shorter ones will be labelled as "Crossover" cables (as opposed to "Straight-Through" or "Regular" or "Patch" cables). Buy one of those.

They're wired differently -- it has to do with the Ethernet standards and how it tells whether it's plugged into a hub/switch or a host. If you want to connect from a host to a hub/switch, you have to use a regular cable. To connect two hubs/switches, or to connect two hosts directly, you have to use a crossover cable. This is a *huge* pain, since the cables look identical other than the order of the wires at the plugs.

And did you try installing drivers for the firewire card in Win2K? Or are they already installed?

 

[alexruiz]

Originally posted by: Matthias99
Go to CompUSA or Best Buy. Go to the section full of ethernet cables. Some of the shorter ones will be labelled as "Crossover" cables (as opposed to "Straight-Through" or "Regular" or "Patch" cables). Buy one of those.

They're wired differently -- it has to do with the Ethernet standards and how it tells whether it's plugged into a hub/switch or a host. If you want to connect from a host to a hub/switch, you have to use a regular cable. To connect two hubs/switches, or to connect two hosts directly, you have to use a crossover cable. This is a *huge* pain, since the cables look identical other than the order of the wires at the plugs.

And did you try installing drivers for the firewire card in Win2K? Or are they already installed?

They were installed when I installed 2k. I think it was asking for the "drivers" of the other PC..... Well, I will get this crossover cable as backup. However, I downloaded the trial of Unibrain's netfire (firewire network) software and give it a try.....

I'll post results (I know, I am lame about networking....)


Alex