Help with basic networking

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resonance

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  • #1
    I really have no idea about this although I'm sure this is one of the most newbie questions available.

    I just bought a notebook and want to hook it up to my desktop pc for file transfers. My extremely rudimentary networking knowledge tells me to buy a PCI ethernet card for the desktop and a PCMCIA ethernet card for the laptop and hook them up. But I want a little advice from the Ars'ers who I think really know these stuff.

    Is this what I'm supposed to do? Are there any things that I need to watch out for while buying the cards? What brands are reliable? Thank you for any answers.

    Dumbfounded,

    rez
     
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    dev

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  • #2
    As far as the Notebook, get a Megahertz/3Com PCMCIA or CardBus if it supports it. Theyre great. You can also find LinkSys for substantially cheaper and I doub't you'll notice a differance. I happen to like the 3Com/Megahertz because I've never ever had problems with them. I did have some problems with a Linksys that would free Win98 whenever it was inserted. But that was just one case. Not something I've heard documented over and over.

    Same goes for the PCI NIC for the desktop computer. Linksys or NetGear are good cheap brands for NICs. I still buy 3Com because of the compatibilitly with alternative Operating systems.
    But if you want to save money you can do it by going with a brand like LinkSys.

    btw you might want a hub or you can just get the direct cable and link the 2 computers.

    dev
     
    Q

    QFK

    Ars Praetorian
    467
  • #3
    You can go the ethernet route with cards etc...or you can use a lap link cable?(not sure if this is the right term here). The lap link is really slow and a general pain to setup although it is cheap no cards needed only 1 cable.

    You will need 2 Nics. 1 for each computer. You will also need a x-over cable. Ask for the cable when you get the rest of the stuff and the sales person should be able to tell you which one to use. There is a diff. between a x-over cable and a standard ethernet cat 5 cable...although both look the same from the outside. Really both are the same except the x-over cable has one pair of wires flip flopped on one end.

    I am using realtek cards in my home network. I have had good luck with them. I have heard others cursing them though. It really depends on your system and install procedure as how smooth things go and how well they work. A lot of people swear by 3com stuff...it is expensive. Some like Intel these too are expensive...it is up to you.

    I know there will be many more posts on what are the "best" cards to use as it is really subjective....

    I am also assuming that you are using windows 98 on both? If so things are fairly straight forward...when you get to that point you can post here and we can help. There are plenty of how-tos out here as well...


    Hope this helps...


    Jeff
     
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    QFK

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  • #4
    Just wanted to add after reading the second post that I have a LinkSys card for my laptop and have no problems with it under windows 98. The pc cards are still expensive at about $75. for a basic 10/100 card.

    That is another thing it is good to go with the 100 mps(?). It is noticably faster. Alot of people in the know have said that it is kind of overkill and you will never be able to max out the 10mps with a small network - the speed difference is noticable. Best to make these decisions in the begining rather than upgrading later on. Most is about the same price.

    Jeff
     
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    Luc

    Ars Scholae Palatinae
    920
  • #6
    www.computergate.com look for parallel port laplink cable; should be less then $3.00, or go to CompUSA and pay about $15.00 for the same cable.

    In W95/98 you have something called "cable connection" - you select LPT1 and it should allow you to map drives between two computers and transfer files. It is slower then Ethernet, but still decent (80KBytes/sec in my tests), and quite cheap.....
     
    L

    LV426

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  • #10
    Networking between a Laptop and a PC can be done in many ways. The best (as regards portability) is wireless alothough this costs a little more it is worth it if you don't want all those cables (you need PCMCIA _PC card_ , a PC NIC , with the wirelass hub an option)
    Option 2. If both machines have USB , you can use that to hook up - althought in my experience it often works out dearer to buy the cables!
    Option 3. The good old PCMCIA & PC NIC. I would recommend 3Com , you pay extra , but you get solid performance , great driver support & a LIFETIME warranty!(remember you get what you pay for!)
    Option 4. You can use a LAPLINK cable , but this is a messy option IMHO. I used a piece of software called PIPX (Parallel IPX) in the days of DooM. It was good , but you can now get much better for much less!
    Option 5. If both machines support IR (which I doubt!) then file transfer can be achieved that way.
    If it is only file transfer you need you could consider an external device , such as a USB hard drive or Zip.....
    Below are a few links of interest...
    Apple (for wireless networking information)

    Farallon For information on home networking and wireless |PC cards.

    LAN Party Pictures of various hubs and PCs in action! :D
    I hope this information is of some use to you....
     
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