[thechat] networking fun and a stupid question

[Andrew Forsberg]

>but in the fuzzy recesses of my brain I think I remember something about
>being able to connect them directly with a phone line, cable or something,
>can't I? But it may not be as nifty as with my network setup, though, either.

Hi!

Hugh answered the ethernet side, but what I think you're remembering
(and I only  vaguely remember them too -- way back to networking DOS
and Amiga boxen) are serial connections between machines. Kinda like
modem connections but without the MOdulator-DEModulator bit. To be
honest, it's probably not worth the hassle. If you really can't get
by without 1 of the 3 existing cards then see if two of them are
available as a 2-in-1 combo card. Serial connections (unless someone
else has a brilliant idea) are likely to be really painful,
intermittent, and plagued by noise problems -- they're not often
shielded and have really weak signals (AFAIK). A google search should
turn up a pin wiring diagram, otherwise just buy a serial cable. On
windows you're likely to have to buy some proprietary software for
networking via serial -- I don't know anything about that side of
things at all.

>Well, I'm impressing my kids to no end with all this ;-)  especially since
>their dad (my ex-husband) only recently learned that you actually need to
>MOVE the mouse... I'm not kidding.

Heh! I've spent a good part of the day wiring patch cables and
sockets at my new offices. Lots of fun -- my first patch cable ever
(and it WORKED!) took an hour (I blame the single strand wire which
was a bitch to straighten), the last one took all of 5 mins. Yay!
What a way to spend a Sunday. I brought home one of the cables to
show Vanessa -- she wasn't over impressed at all -- the cats thought
it was GREAT! :-)

Cheers
Andrew

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