i'd stick to space pictures if i were you, kimk.

good idea! god i'm so bored

Cardy, you are using thin coaxial cable aka 10base2? I used that less than a year ago! It's a bit too slow, as it only runs at 10mbps, but it is more than enough for gaming. I agree with Taw and Mustang, go for some nice CAT 5e UTP. Or some CAT 6, but it is expensive and not really necessary. Taw and Mustang have given you all the information that you need to set up a network. Just remember that "private class C" addresses are denoted by 192.168.x.x. Don't throw in a 200.200.200.1 sort of address. Not a good idea. Trust me.

Kimk - You sound like a computer helpdesk operator's nightmare! "What's this white arrow-shaped thing on my screen?" .

Cardy - Let us know how the project is coming along. What are you bored of? Networking? Already? You have much to learn my young apprentice .

Esquilax

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And now for something completely different...

Edited by - esquilax on 1/7/2004 11:43:30 PM

no esq BNC is sh*te for gaming, if you have more than say TCP/IP as n/w protocol running, say you have IPX/SPX & NetBeui running as well, not to mention VPN support, add to that all the Windows environment cr*p, then it'll be as slow as a dog with no legs. And the n/w keeps dropping cos BNC T-pieces are usually fonk at connections, even just walking past em makes em drop out!

CAt5e/CAt6 with RJ45 connectors and a nice little 5-port 100mbit switch with an uplink, cost about £80 all together if that.

I must disagree. While you are correct in regards the reliability of thin coax, it is fine for gaming! While it is true that network performance will degrade with IPX, etc, there is still enough bandwidth for decent gaming. I ran 30 metres of thin coax up a flight of stairs to my brother's computer, and we played a number of LAN games with excellent results. I am not advocating the use of 10base2 over UTP however, in my experience, 10mbps is sufficient for gaming. That is not to say that it is great, but acceptable.

Esquilax

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And now for something completely different...

well it's what you deem acceptable. it's acceptable for me if I was still playing Duke Nukem 3d or Doom on a W95/DOS system with 10-Base T ISA cards and a ruck of BNC, but 100mbit UTP stuff is so cheap now i just don't see any reason to live in the past and put up with n/w bottlenecks, that's all. Mind you if you have no other traffic on the n/w but that, no internet, no file transfers, no VPN, then i suppose it's liveable with, but not for me.

I've tried everything you've said, but no luck. I got an error message first time telling me that there is already a computer called DALE on the same network, as both PCs were called DALE. They're now called NEWPC and OLDPC, but still no luck. The Windows Networking Troubleshooter is absolutely sh*t, and doesn't help! It just says "contact your network administrator for a list of . . ." at the end of every troubleshooting session.

I've set my PCs IP addresses as 192.168.128.16 for NEWPC (using internal standard network IP and my age at the end), and 192.168.128.17 for OLDPC, but still no luck! Here's a list of the components installed:

NEWPC:
- Client for Microsoft Networks
- Dial-up Adapter with VPN Support
- Dial-up Adapter #2 with VPN Support
- TCP/IP ...
- TCP/IP ...
- TCP/IP ...
- The network card

OLD PC
- The same as above, but only two TCP/IP and one Dial-up

Oh yeah, could there be a clash with Network Card Types? In the NEWPC there's a PCI card, but an ISA in OLDPC. Would they clash?

@Esquilax - I was in the library at college and had to wait for my bus, so I was bored of waiting. I have a habit of typing what I'm thinking lol.

Cheers for all your help so far!

did you remember to enable file and print sharing, retsartt after that, then share which drives and directories you want to see over the network? what logon are you using, Client for MS networks or standard windows logon? i knopw Client for MS is in your list but in the box under installed components you should see Logon type - make this Windows Logon, then edit it's properties to "quick logon"

from the face of it you seem to have it correctly configured, not quite the way I'd do it but good enough but you'll se jack s*** if you don't enable file and print sharing, then share something. obv the network itself works because you got the pc-name clash which temporaily disables the NIC, so you did that right.

the diff between PCI nics and ISA nics apart from the bus/slot they use, is that PCI combo nics auto-sense which connection youre using, BNC or UTP, while ISAs usually don't, they have to have to have their EEPROMs flashed via the setup utility on the driver disk. but I don't think this is your problem.

hey don't fret! you're doing really well. you're almost there!

cheers bud, i'll have a look tonight. If I don't share the Freelancer Directory, can I still play LAN games on FL?

yeah TCP/IP handles the transfers, but I'd share the HDDs anyway cos FL puts account details in another place other than the install directory, which gets confusing when youre looking for the savegames and their in My Docs (typical Microsoft)

its bloody awful when trying to find the damn thing! I couldn't find my saves until i downloaded FLMM and it said "Open Saved Games Folder" in the options lol. Thanks for the input, as this is my first network attempt on my own lol!

Taw - As I said, it is sufficient but I wouldn't recommend it unless the individual in question decided not to utilise UTP.

Cardy - I know how it is. Rock on!

What are the subnet masks that you have set, Cardy? For your private class "C" network, it should be 255.255.255.0 on both machines. Also, make sure that you have enabled "NetBIOS over TCP/IP", because Windows prefers to use NetBIOS when accessing shares, and this will help to prevent any future access problems.

What can you tell us about the router? Have you configured it, or are you just using it in a default mode as a switch?

Apart from that, I'll have to think, because I haven't used anything older the WinME for years.



Esquilax

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And now for something completely different...

Edited by - esquilax on 1/9/2004 5:21:00 PM