Networking laptop & desktop

[Famouswhendead]

Good afternoon!

A question about networking (think that's the correct term!) my laptop with my desktop.
You see, my desktop is connected to ADSL via the telephone socket & cable. My laptop only has a wireless card and I do not wish to invest in the kit to go wireless just now if I can help it.
Is there a method of connecting my laptop to my desktop so I can transfer files and share the broadband connection??? I recall an article I found on the internet which involved a cable with a little electronic box of tricks mid-line to enable me to do this, but not being too up on this sort of thing, I may have mis-understood it all.

Any help greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[hellsbrink]

Your laptop should have an RJ45 Ethernet port on it, so you can buy what is called a "crossover cable" (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Peripherals/Cabling/2m+Crossover+Net+Cable+RJ45?productId=28990 ) which plugs into the ethernet ports on the laptop and desktop.

That's it, no need for routers, etc

[cdtaylor_nats]

Get a wireless USB device for your desktop. Set up an ad hoc wireless network using the network wizard. From the desktop you share your broadband connection. You can also share printers and file folders. The network wizard can write setup files to a USB Flash memory which you then take to the laptop to help set it up.

No need for routers etc. You do need to keep the desktop running when you want to use the laptop.

[42psi]

Where exactly does the lead from your telephone socket go?

[hellsbrink]

I'll stick me neck out and guess he has an ADSL modem that connects via USB, 42psi

[Saab Dastard]

my desktop is connected to ADSL via the telephone socket & cable

Hmmm - telephone socket on a desktop? Could be an RJ45 ethernet port.

Famouswhendead - please tell us what your desktop PC and laptop make and models are.

Also, please tell us what the cable is that connects your PC to the ADSL modem - look at the plug at the end of the cable and see if it is like this:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Rj45plug-8p8c.png

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5d/Cat5.jpg

If it is, then you are connecting via RJ45 ethernet. Is there a similar socket on your laptop?

SD

[bnt]

Is the desktop running XP or Vista? You can set up Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) on the ADSL collection, which should be as simple as going to that connection, saying "Share" and following the instructions. Then, once you make the basic connection between notebook and desktop (wired or wireless, as described in other replies), the Desktop acts like a router, including handing out
IP addresses.

A friend of mine did exactly this, a few years ago - worked fine, the computers all saw each other and the Internet.

[42psi]

Unless I mis-read the orignal post what's wanted is the way to physically connect the laptop & PC ... we know the laptop has built in wireless and the PC is connected to the internet with ADSL via a cable.

FWD wants to get the laptop into the loop without getting wireless capability on the PC....

If we knew how the internet "cable" connected to the PC/phone we could better advise.


Thats why I'd asked earlier "Where exactly does the lead from your telephone socket go? "


Options might be:

1. If the PC's internet conx is via a wireless enabled modem router then just wireless conx through that (guessing not so which is why the question!) [This option is good as laptop can conx to internet without PC being switched on].

2. If the PC's conx is via a modem router with ethernet ports then a standard networking cable would allow the laptop (most laptops for some time have had RJ45 ports) to be connected to the router that way and share the internet conx. [Again a good option which means the PC doesn't need to be switched on].

3. If the PC's conx is via a USB modem and the PC has an RJ45 port then use that. If it doesn't have a network (RJ45) port then it won't work without something being added! [Worst option, IMHO, as it will need the PC to be on to connect to the internet].


If it needs the PC to be provided with the ability to connect to the laptop then I'd suggest going for a PC wireless PCI card, as long as there's a spare slot for it!!! They can be had for less than £14.00 these days.

Of course this is what the original post asked to avoid if possible!!!!


Actually getting the two talking to each other & the internet is not really difficult once you can actually connect them......

[BeechNut]

Wireless routers are plenty cheap, and have ethernet ports on the back in addition to being able to connect wirelessly. Get a router, locate the router and desktop next to the ADSL modem, plug the ADSL modem into the router's WAN port assuming the modem has an RJ45 cable, plug the desktop into one of the LAN (ethernet) ports with another RJ45, and connect the laptop via WPA-2 encrypted wireless. Both machines will be Internet-capable, you will be able to share data between them, and both systems end up sitting behind a hardware firewall (the router).

With the router and WPA-2 you will have a great firewall. Cheap insurance.

[Famouswhendead]

Afternoon all.

Many thanks for all your replies and suggestions! I haven't been around for the weekend, hence my late post in reply...... my apologies.

Yes, the desktop runs from an ADSL router. The router is the one connected via a cable to the splitter in the telephone socket. The PC is an Advent, circa 2003/4, but still quite nippy!
The laptop does indeed have a RJ45 port. Laptop is a Gateway MA3, circa 2007.

What I want to do is share the connection and be able to transfer files across the two computers. Therefore, if I read your suggestions correctly, the easiest and most cost effective way of me to do this would be via a standard RJ45 cable then? Bearing in mind this is only going to be a short-term way of doing things, for convenience, and thus cheapest!

Thank you once more.

[Saab Dastard]

OK,

Please clarify:

Does your ADSL router have only one available connection (currently used by the desktop PC) or several?

Is your desktop PC connected to the ADSL router via RJ45 connection or USB at the PC end?

SD

[hellsbrink]

Therefore, if I read your suggestions correctly, the easiest and most cost effective way of me to do this would be via a standard RJ45 cable then

Not quite, you need a CROSSOVER cable, like in the link I posted earlier, provided the rj45 port on the desktop isn't used (if your "router" is actually an ADSL Modem connected to the desktop via a USB connection) and you wish to connect directly to the desktop.

If your modem is an actual router, and should have spare rj45 ports (it ain't a router without them) then connecting the laptop to the router with a standard rj45 cable will work and allow the laptop to use the internet connection as well.

[BOAC]

If you want to spend a little more than Hellsbrink's £1.18 (+delivery:)) try a Google for Hi-Speed USB-Network Bridge Cable - there are several options at various prices (try Ebay) and the one I bought came with an install CDROM and pops up a nifty little window showing Explorer on both machines with drag-and-drop copy/move - and works a treat..

[Keef]

I'd be a little bit wary of assuming a crossover cable to the desktop would allow the laptop to connect to the Internet via the (USB?) connection from the PC to the ADSL modem. There may be a couple of things that need to be done first.

It's a lot easier with a modem-router (which could be, but doesn't have to be wireless). Straight Cat5 cables are extremely cheap (I bought a bag of 10 for £5), and modem-routers aren't exactly expensive. Then the networking etc is a doddle.

[BEagle]

If you connect 2 computers together with an RJ45 crossover cable, how do they 'see' eachother?

Do you have to set up some sort of network, or does one simply see the other as an 'external device' much as if it was an external hard drive, for example?

[42psi]

The "cross over cable" achieves the same thing as a router without having the router .......

If you connect via a router the wires from the laptop meet those from the desktop in the router. The router provides the right connections wire to wire....

The router cross connects these to allow comms.

If you use a cross over cable the wires to one of the connectors are "crossed" to allow the two to see each other without the router.



In both cases you set up a network so they can see each other.

[BEagle]

How straightforward is 'setting up a network'? Does this involve the usual confusing Bill Gates geek-speak and abysmal HMI, or is it a relatively simple step-by-step process?

[Saab Dastard]

I'd be a little bit wary of assuming a crossover cable to the desktop would allow the laptop to connect to the Internet via the (USB?) connection from the PC to the ADSL modem.

Keef,

Don't worry, it works! Use Internet Connection Sharing (ICS). The fact that the PC and laptop are connected together via x-over is not relevant. As far as their ethernet Network cards are concerned, they have valid IP addresses, subnet masks and default gateways. And electrically, there is a path between them - as 42psi says, the x-over cable provides TX-RX.

The only thing you can't do is use DHCP for IP addressing - and that includes passing DNS server details. So the laptop will need to have IP address, subnet mask, default gateway and DNS server IP addresses manually configured.

SD

[Bushfiva]

The only thing you can't do is use DHCP for IP addressing - and that includes passing DNS server details. So the laptop will need to have IP address, subnet mask, default gateway and DNS server IP addresses manually configured.


Think I'll pull up a chair and watch this.

[BEagle]

Indeed....

I have 2 laptops. Both connect to the Internet independently through a wireless router/modem and both connect through this to a wireless printer.

To transfer files from one to the other, currently I do so using a USB stick.

When away from my wireless router, I would like to connect both laptops together with a suitable cable so that I can transfer files between them without needing a USB stick.

How?

[42psi]

Ahhh.... Beagle you have a tricky config if you wish to maintian security ...!!

I have to dash off now as the missus insists she has some tasks for me .. but I shall return...

Basically though....

When you set up an ad-hoc peer to peer network (which is what you are decribing) you use "Internet Protocol" for the comms between the two computers.

When they both have the potential for independent internet access this can create a posible security risk.

There is a way around it though but I'll need to double check.

I seem to recall you have to use one of the other networking protocols for the networking of the two PC's.


I'll dig out the info .... unless someone with greater knowledge than I can contribute in the meantime.


I'm sure that was the case with XP .. don;t know if Vista is any different!




Borrocks .... I've just read what you posted again .... I'm off up the wrong tree ... please do ignore me :}

[hellsbrink]

See "crossover cable", BEagle

[BEagle]

hellsbrink, yes thanks, I saw that.

Both laptops have unused RJ45 ports - in my simple mind I thought that it would be as easy as connecting them both with a crossover cable, then being able to use 'My Computer' to find the 'other' computer's C-drive and thence copying files by copy-and-paste.

If it really involves anything much more complicated than that, I reckon I'll stick to the simple computer A to USB stick to computer B method!

[hellsbrink]

You merely have to set up a simple fine and print sharing network to go along with the cable, BEagle.

Here's the instructions:- http://www.drbillbailey.net/share.html

[BOAC]

Just to re-iterate, Beagle, for a few hard-earned Shekels more, the "Hi-Speed USB-Network Bridge Cable" I mentioned does NOT need any shares set up. It is soooh simple.

[Keef]

It's not hard to set up the crossover cable to share files or the Internet. There are instructions dotted about the Internet. Allow 2 minutes to do it, and a couple of hours to find the right set of instructions that actually work for you.

I have (somewhere) one of those USB link cables. It used to work very well. I didn't use it for several months, and when I next tried I got all sorts of error messages about it. Something got "fixed" in XP, and thereafter the particular software package that came with it wouldn't work.

Enquiry found one package that was guaranteed to work, but it was about £60. Soon after, I bought a router and connected all the machines via that. Sharing drives and folders was easy, and the firewall in the router seems to provide adequate protection from outsiders.

The great advantage of using a router is that I can take my laptop to the Norfolk hideaway or one of my daughters, connect to the LAN or WiFi network, and access my files at home if I wish. That has proved extremely useful a few times.

[BEagle]

Thanks for your advice, everyone.

Unfortunately I have a limited number of USB ports on both computers (unless I faff with the 'media base') so the rather simpler USB bridge would probably be a bit awkward.

So I'm going to stick with the simpler USB stick expedient. This is because computer A is the primary upon which I work. I don't really need to transfer files between PCs, but I do need to view work created on one on the other - and it's dead simple just to copy the file temporarily onto a USB stick (which lives next to a female socket extension to the other computer) then view it on computer B.

I also need to run a specialised application on computer A and make notes about the results in Word on computer B directly onto the comment document held on the USB stick. When I've finished, I just copy and paste the revised document back to computer A and let it overwrite the original.

This also slows down fat fingers which might lose the original file!

[bnt]

The only thing you can't do is use DHCP for IP addressing - and that includes passing DNS server details. So the laptop will need to have IP address, subnet mask, default gateway and DNS server IP addresses manually configured.
No need for a chair... it's just that, with ICS enabled, the Desktop actually acts as a DHCP server, so you do not need to set up IP addresses manually. If the notebook reverts to an APIPA (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/220874/en-us) address (169.254.xxx.xxx), something has gone wrong with that.

OP: at this point, can you please tell us where you are now?
- if you're still trying to connect the two PCs, and don't know what to do, can you tell us about your ADSL router? Make and model? That way we can figure out what it's capable of and how it connects to your PC. This will determine what you do next:
- if it connects to your PC via a USB cable, then your cheapest best way forward is to get a crossover cable and set up Internet Connection Sharing as described earlier.
- if it connects to your Desktop via an RJ-45 Ethernet cable, as in the picture... the router might have extra RJ-45 ports on the back. If so, you can simply connect the notebook via a standard Ethernet cable as in the picture, not a crossover cable.
We need to clear this point up, it will determine what you need to buy, if anything!

OK, once you get the machines connected, (by whatever means), what are the IP addresses of the RJ-45 ports on both sides? IP addresses are fundamental to getting any of this working, you have to be clear about what is happening there. Nothing will work if the machines can't talk to each other at the IP level.
- From the one machine, can you PING the IP address of the other machine's RJ-45 port? And vice versa?
- Assuming that works, have you Shared a folder on the Desktop? From the Notebook, try connecting to the IP address of the Desktop by IP address. For example: Start, Run, \\192.168.1.13 (insert correct ping-able desktop IP address) (Note that it's two backslashes, not forward slashes (/) ).
This opens a Windows Sharing (SMB) connection, which is what you use to share files between machines.

[Saab Dastard]

with ICS enabled, the Desktop actually acts as a DHCP server, so you do not need to set up IP addresses manually.

bnt, thanks - I have to admit I've never used ICS! :O

SD

[Famouswhendead]

Ah success! Had the brother-in-law roped into having a look during a visit and, after several cups of tea (my only technical contribution), he managed to set up what I was after using a USB-to-USB connection between the two.

Thank you for all your contributions though. They have been greatly appreciated. Had me scratching me head a bit towards the end mind :uhoh: !!!