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Geek Culture / How do I network two XP comps?

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Killswitch
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Posted: 23rd Feb 2004 21:01
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A friend asked me today how he could network his two home PC's both running XP so that they could both be online sharing a single internet connection. I said I'd find out for him, and I think it would help for me to be told by someone instead of searching through the dregs of the internet.

BTW He is willing to pay for any extra equipment/wiring he might need. Thanks.

~I see one problem with your reasoning: The fact is that is a chicken~
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mm0zct
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Posted: 23rd Feb 2004 21:09
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i'll email you

http://www.larinar.tk
AMD athlon thoroughbred 2200, 512Mb ram, 40Gb HD, ati saphire radeon 9600 atlantis w/128mb ddr ram, good creative-labs soundcard, cd-rw + dvd drives.
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Killswitch
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Posted: 23rd Feb 2004 21:10
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Thanks mate

~I see one problem with your reasoning: The fact is that is a chicken~
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CattleRustler
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Posted: 23rd Feb 2004 21:41
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Linksys BEFSR41 is the short answer

-RUST-
"What the... Mooooooooooo!"
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ReD_eYe
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Posted: 23rd Feb 2004 22:00
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but not very helpful what is it?

In the beginning, the universe was created...
This made alot of people very angry and it has been widely regarded as a bad idea...
Visit http://redeye.dbspot.com
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mm0zct
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Posted: 23rd Feb 2004 22:07
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i've sent him a long detailed email and offered to give him help on setting ip's if what i said doesn't work

http://www.larinar.tk
AMD athlon thoroughbred 2200, 512Mb ram, 40Gb HD, ati saphire radeon 9600 atlantis w/128mb ddr ram, good creative-labs soundcard, cd-rw + dvd drives.
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CattleRustler
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Posted: 23rd Feb 2004 22:53
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Item mentioned above is an inexpensive 4 port ethernet router. If you want up to 4 computers to share a broadband connection and be able to exchange data with each other then this router is for you. I have one and it's great for my small home network. This router also does NAT translation so you are less susceptible to hackers. Add in a soft firewall and you are good to go (xp has one built in) You can pick up the router for like 40 bucks usd.

look it up
read up

-RUST-
"What the... Mooooooooooo!"
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ReD_eYe
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Posted: 23rd Feb 2004 23:22
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thanks, thats something to remember when we(my parents) finally get round to buying a new comp and having it share the broadband connection

In the beginning, the universe was created...
This made alot of people very angry and it has been widely regarded as a bad idea...
Visit http://redeye.dbspot.com
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mm0zct
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Posted: 24th Feb 2004 00:06
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we are using wireless networking so we use a buffalo airstation, it has 4 wired ports, another one for the modem and up to 16 wireless connections.

http://www.larinar.tk
AMD athlon thoroughbred 2200, 512Mb ram, 40Gb HD, ati saphire radeon 9600 atlantis w/128mb ddr ram, good creative-labs soundcard, cd-rw + dvd drives.
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HZence
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Posted: 24th Feb 2004 00:18
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Easiest way: Having the same ethrenet card in both computers and using a patch cable (though patch cables are known to break down easily).

More complicated way (use this if you have broadband and need to split the connection): Buy a router (contact your ISP to find out what kind you need) and three cat5 cables. Hook the modem into the router as well as both the computers, run the network set up wizard, and voila.

Probably left a few things out there...


Team EOD :: Programmer/Storyboard Assistant
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DivW
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Posted: 24th Feb 2004 01:41 Edited at: 24th Feb 2004 01:43
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Ah, i'll nick this post for a sec, if it's ok Killswitch, i have a bloody complicated ring topology going on in my house right now, but with my Laptop, things have been hell, and with the 4rth computer getting hooked up soon, my Mum has decided she's willing to shell out moolah big time to get rid of all the wires. I was thinking about rigging the house up with wall-ethernet ports, as seen in Screw-fix, but that would cost and if a wire goes it's going to be hell for me to sort it. But i was thinking of Wireless Networking, which is great for my laptop and will cut out all the wires. Like i said, my My Mum's willing to shell out quite a bit to sort out the Network once and for all, and i'm experienced anough to set it up, but i havn't touched Wireless Yet. Is it reliable? What do i need? Just a Wireless Router and the actual cards? I need one mini card for the laptop, and the routher must be able to handle at least 6 computers, because at this rate, i'll have a computer controlling the lights next. I have 3 comps at the mo, one more for my Home Entertainmetn Project, 1 more for my University Stuff, and my laptop. So 6 at least. I've been reccomended Link SYS but the stuff seems rather pricy. Anyone tell me what i need?

-Dave

PS: Is my Avatar working properly? It seems to be 'flashing', it's working one minute and not the next...

Your soul...it tastes like chicken

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spooky
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Posted: 24th Feb 2004 01:57
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No, your avatar AND sig image are not working.

Boo!
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Phaelax
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Posted: 24th Feb 2004 02:33
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easiest way to do it, is to buy a router. plug in the modem, and the 2 computers and you're all done. XP should already be automatically configured.

"eureka" - Archimedes
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CattleRustler
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Posted: 24th Feb 2004 03:45
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DivW

If you get a wireless ethernet router (i ihave one of these also) I would recommend a 802.11 G/54Mbit router that supports WPA Encryption and MAC Locking...ie the Linksys WRT54G. It supports 4 wired users and I am not sure how many Wireless users simultaneously. You would need the router which is about 90 bucks usd and wireless G nic cards for each intended machine. May be about the same cost or cheaper than in-the-wall face-plate wiring your house. But if you do go wireless don't settle for anything that is not 802.11G and WPA enabled.

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"What the... Mooooooooooo!"
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DivW
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Posted: 27th Feb 2004 17:49
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Thanks CR...but what is 802.11G? I checked the price of the Part you mentioned, it was £65.80 at Dabs.com which is expensive but not to point where it's inaffordable. Thanks for that.
http://www.dabs.com/uk/productView.htm?quicklinx=2CM7
That looks like the Router for me. All i need to do now is look into Wireless cards. Thanks CR.

-Dave

Your soul...it tastes like chicken

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CattleRustler
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Posted: 27th Feb 2004 18:25
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Your welcome DivW.

802.11G is the latest ethernet protocol for wireless which allows 54 megabit speed and advanced security encryption. That router is neat in that you can specify 802.11G wireless devices only and/or backwards compatibility with other 802.11 specs. The one I have here is connected to my main router and feeds both wired and wirelessG to my wife's Apple network - she has a wired 17" desktop iMac and she just got a 14" iBook using AirportExtreme (802.11G). So she is all set.

I set it up to use WPA Encryption (pre-shared key) and I suggest you do the same. Also I set up the router to only allow G-devices, and only allow certain MAC address (the mac address of her iBook).

Good luck and let me know how it goes.

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DivW
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Posted: 1st Mar 2004 11:52
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Thanks CR. Boke the price to my mum, told her i might be able to get the router off Ebay a little cheaper, she didn't seem to worried, seemed to actually be considering it. What's the range on the thing? I want to know how far i can take my laptop

-Dave

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CattleRustler
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Posted: 1st Mar 2004 16:16
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well I don't know the specs but if you have a house or an apartment (uk flat) then you'll have no problems. The G protocol is using roughly 5ghz frequency so general 2.4ghz phones and other wireless equip won't interfere but you can lose the connection near microwave or electrical equip - you should be fine tho, so much so someone with a wireless g laptop outside your house can latch onto your network so be very careful:
Use WPA preshared key encryption
MAC Address Filter

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DivW
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Posted: 1st Mar 2004 16:33
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I'm not to good with Network Security, i study Systems and Software-Networking and AI are 'side-subjects' with me. Any chance you can give a pointer at what that key encryption thingy is? Network security isn't hugely troublesome for me, but i want to be sure.

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CattleRustler
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Posted: 1st Mar 2004 17:09
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be fore I forget you should also use the option to NOT broadcast the network ID. It helps in that a potential malicious network user would need to know the network ID first, then he would need the right hardware MAC Address, then be able to get past the WPA encryption which is pretty much impossible via the preshared key based encryption algorithm. The key is a text, ascii, or hex value that is preshared between router and users, which is used with the encryption algorithm to generate a unique encryption scheme for your data. The router can regenerate the encryption scheme on a set interval so the airborne packets outter hull will constantly change over time but can still be decrypted by the machine bearing the correct key. I am prolly not explaing 100% correctly but you get the idea. Do a google search for more info, or check out the Linksys site.



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UnderLord
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Posted: 2nd Mar 2004 06:52
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Linksys - Good for download web serfing and everything except online play! do not buy it if you plan to play online games alot (I should know!) it likes to cut out on you at random times for around 3-5 seconds...although if you have a nice big fat fast connection it shouldent be to much of a problem.

There is one type of wireless system built for gaming if thats what your going to do i don't know the name off the top of my head but its sopost to work really well.

But im sure with some tweaking on a linksys (port forwarding DMZ ect ect) you could have it do wonders. But i never did figure out how to do port forwarding.

The search continues.

Current project - A space game
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Magellan
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Posted: 2nd Mar 2004 06:59
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@UnderWorld

I have a LinkSys and it works great, it never has that problem. My friend though, has broadband and he has that exact problem. He is connected straight to the modem though, so maybe it is a problem other than the router.

All this content are belong to me.
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CattleRustler
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Posted: 2nd Mar 2004 16:15
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port fowarding is quite simple. If you need specific help just ask.

-RUST-
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UnderLord
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Posted: 4th Mar 2004 01:05
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i wanna know for port forwarding how do i type in the "application to forward" and what IP do i use? mine or what? im also on DHCP i think so i also think port forwarding would be a bad idea heh

The search continues.

Current project - A space game
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CattleRustler
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Posted: 4th Mar 2004 02:45
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you need not enter the app name. The port should be set to the port the game uses like 3001-3001, and the ip should be the internal ip assigned to your pc by the router like 192.168.1.100.

i play online games and havent had to specifically forward from the router, do you have a fire wall that is mucking it up?

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UnderLord
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Posted: 4th Mar 2004 06:32
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err yes i have a firewall im not sure if its the firewall all the way i have the sygate firewall but i know when i turn it off it helps a little

The search continues.

Current project - A space game
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CattleRustler
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Posted: 4th Mar 2004 08:10
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before you go mucking around in the router settings i'd do the following

-find out exactly what ports the game uses
-make those ports friendly in your firewall settings

if that doesn't solve it then try forwarding the ports on the router (both udp and tcp) and see if that helps

if not, close up firewall and router and check with game manf.

-RUST-
"What the... Mooooooooooo!"
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