not Cereal Posted February 5, 2003 Posted February 5, 2003 well either i am stupid or not, but i had an alchohol induced bout of computer genius last night. ok, so lets say you have 3 computers, not connected, all with usb ports. ok, so you you have a usb zip drive, and you can walk around to any of the computers, mac OR pc, or whatever, and put fils on/take files off the zip drive just by merely inserting the usb connector. ok, so i know that would work. i've done it. its a form of "sneaker net" ok, so WHY DO YOU NEED THE DRIVE? see what i am saying? you should just be able to connect the computers via USB, with no drive in the situation. am i stoopid, or on to something here?
Roto Posted February 5, 2003 Posted February 5, 2003 I think thats a yes on both counts ;) You can network through usb. Never tried it myself, but I know one of my computers had a usb-b connection (square shaped) so you could use the normal usb cables to do this with instead of finding cables that were usb-a on both ends. Personally I'd just get a networking kit unless you can find the correct usb cables for cheap.
miroslav Posted February 5, 2003 Posted February 5, 2003 Just set up a network between the computers and you can toss the Zip Drive. Though I'm not sure how to best network a Mac and PC...but I bet it's possible... miroslav - miroslavmusic.com "Just because it happened to you, it doesn't mean it's important."
Ultravibe Posted February 5, 2003 Posted February 5, 2003 Apparently newer macs can access each others drives through firewire. But the Gigabit ethernet is pretty damn fast if you haven't sen it yet. Isn't 10 baseT basically similar to USB speeds? Andrew Mazzocchi
polyt Posted February 5, 2003 Posted February 5, 2003 Quite a few mobos are have integrated ethernet connections nowdays. Some have the, what do they call that, giganet, gigaether, ...high transfer rates.
Jeff Klopmeyer Posted February 5, 2003 Posted February 5, 2003 You are neither stupid nor onto something. Actually, you are onto something, just not completely onto it. 1. Yes, you can connect computers like this. 2. However, look at a USB cable. Note that the ends are different. 3. You need a special cable and special software. But the good news is that both the cable and the software (whose name escapes me at the moment) is usually available at big computer retail places like Frye's, and I believe it's pretty cheap. 4. You could also probably do a Google search under some term like "USB computer to computer" and get info. 5. In fact, I just did that search for you, and it comes up with plenty of stuff. So...there you go. - Jeff Marketing Communications for MI/Pro Audio My solo music and stuff They Stole My Crayon
polyt Posted February 5, 2003 Posted February 5, 2003 Edit: beat me to it Vibe! Edit two: than I missed the edit button!
not Cereal Posted February 5, 2003 Author Posted February 5, 2003 yea but have ya ever tried to network a mac and pc over ethernet without a dedicated server? i have. it SUCKS and its unstable. its very difficult to keep both the mac and pc in communication with a crossover ethernet cable. AFAIAC its impossible. but the usb thing, i dunno. only my mac has usb so i havent tried it
Sylver Posted February 5, 2003 Posted February 5, 2003 I don't know why you would want to network a Mac and a PC. Macs suck. ^kidding, don't send hate mail. I really don't know what to put here.
not Cereal Posted February 5, 2003 Author Posted February 5, 2003 sometimes i need to get info on the pc, and since the pc's cdrom is dead, floppy is too small, and the fact that the pc is garbage the only way to get info on it is ethernet or a zip drive. doesnt matter - i'm probably gonna throw this pc at the wall too, like they all inevitably end up. first the wall, then the curb. ever see a mac on the curb? didnt think so. pc's on the curb all the time. cheepest way to get parts is boulevard shopping!
vintagevibe Posted February 5, 2003 Posted February 5, 2003 You can do it easily with a "crossover" network cable. The big difference is that network cables a cheaper than USB cables. Also I wonder what the usuable limit to the length of a USB cable is without using a Hub?
not Cereal Posted February 5, 2003 Author Posted February 5, 2003 i dunno. my two usb devices have about 4 feet of cable each
PBBPaul Posted February 5, 2003 Posted February 5, 2003 I have a similar dilemma at the moment. I will shortly (finally) be making the jump to high-speed internet. My dilemma is: I have three PC's and one Mac scattered throughout the house. How do I network all of them together to share one internet connection? The PC's I understand but the Mac? :freak: Any advice? Or is it easy and I'm just being paranoid? Oh yeah... I also have a wireless 802.11b system that I will want to incorporate. Our new and improved website Today's sample tune: Lonesome One
Jonathan Hughes Posted February 5, 2003 Posted February 5, 2003 you could get a cheap 4-port ethernet hub ($30), and hook everything up to that. The Macs will see each other once you setup file sharing, and there are a variety of ways to get the Macs and PCs to see each other (I believe OS X has this capability, but I haven't needed to try it). If you're not running OS X, the cheapest way is to put a freeware FTP server on the PC, and connect up to it from the Mac through Fetch or an equivalent program. On the Mac, you can upload and download things to/from the PC.
Rim Posted February 5, 2003 Posted February 5, 2003 Good ole [url=http://www.laplink.com]Laplink[/url] has a product called PCSync that lets you connect two PC's via USB (along with serial and parallel ports). I don't know if they make one compatible with Macs. You also need to install software on the machines you want to swap files and you can only swap between two at a time. But worth checking out if you don't want to go the network route. aka riffing Double Post music: Strip Down http://rimspeed.com http://loadedtheband.com
Dylan Posted February 5, 2003 Posted February 5, 2003 You might just look into getting a USB Flash Drive. They usually are small enough to fit onto a keychain and I think the 128 MB models are well under $100 today. You can take the usb pen from computer to computer without needing anything else including drivers.
Rog Posted February 5, 2003 Posted February 5, 2003 I use a USB - USB cable to link my Mac and PC - works well. You could also set up a wireless network - Mac OSX is great for networking :) "That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." - Banky Edwards.
Charlie-brm Posted February 6, 2003 Posted February 6, 2003 [quote]Originally posted by PBBPaul: [b]I have a similar dilemma at the moment. I will shortly (finally) be making the jump to high-speed internet. My dilemma is: I have three PC's and one Mac scattered throughout the house. How do I network all of them together to share one internet connection? The PC's I understand but the Mac? :freak: Any advice? Or is it easy and I'm just being paranoid? Oh yeah... I also have a wireless 802.11b system that I will want to incorporate.[/b][/quote]A plain hub is not the answer to share an internet connection. Get a little router intended for high speed internet use. These routers don't cost more than $30 over the cost of a decent 10/100 Mbps hub. Example: D-Link DI-604 router. In very simple terms, you subscribe to one account on one computer. Later you put the router in the chain between the modem and your connected computer and the router "assumes" the unique identity of that computer's ethernet card for the purposes of the internet provider. It's called MAC cloning. Now you can plug in the rest of your computers, any platform that has TCP/IP networking, and the router assigns them unique identities within your home's network space but they share the one identity outside your space, ie. the internet. That's the "NAT" term you might have seen. The router also acts as a hub for any internal sharing you are able to set up. It is really easy, and I'm the cautious type. If the provider detects or you have to let them know you have a router, you bought it for extra firewall security and blocking your kids from the evils of the internet. On your last question, I think you can use one of the router's ports to go to a regular hub to branch to your wireless system. I just traded my D-Link for pet care so I don't have the manual anymore to confirm that. Caveat: providers' agreements generally don't allow for more than one computer using one account. Either they will hunt you down like the cheap bastard you are in about five years when they get caught up to all the other cheap bastards (take a number) :) , or they will offer you additional accounts for maybe $10 each per month. Last tech I spoke to said they are more interested in cases like eight computer science majors sharing a house and using one account. Mac / Wintel file & printer sharing is pretty easy. I was doing it 8 or 10 years ago with MacLan software using the old daisy chained coax ethernet, peer to peer with no hubs or servers. The problems we had when they rarely occured weren't technical. It was more of matter of staying organized and consistent as to how and where you decide to store your files. It's OK to tempt fate. Just don't drop your drawers and moon her.
phaeton Posted February 6, 2003 Posted February 6, 2003 Networking via USB is probably not what you want to do. In the long run it would be easier, cheaper, and more reliable doing the way that Charlie-BRM has suggested. Get ye a small router. The D-Link that is mentioned above is great, as are the Linksys 5-ports, etc. Set the router to your static IP, and then use DHCP to automagically assign IPs to all your machines. hint: you have to turn on DHCP on said machines and let them poll. It really doesn't get any easier than that. and IMHO, folks like Roadrunner and Charter are communists for trying to scan your network. If they were able to do any form of traffic shaping at all (like any self-respecting provider does) they wouldn't have to care how many machines you've got connected. This is also why in some areas people are paying $40-$60-$80/mo for Cable Modem Access and it's gotten to be about the speed of dialup. Dr. Seuss: The Original White Rapper . WWND?
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