Tonight i will be teaching...

[Matt2107]

my girlfriend to install a network card.

Then we will be playing networked Stronghold Crusader :D

[Markyc]

Not sure bout teaching maybe doing it for her!lol Have to say Fat game got hooked couple of months ago stayed up till like 4 in the morning because i got stuck on 1 of the last missions!!

[Jack]

REAL MEN USE WIRELESS


...then get pissed off and break things whilst trying to set it up with XP lmfao

[General Baxter]

...then get pissed off and break things whilst trying to set it up with XP lmfao

bahahahaha so true, iv been trying for 2 weeks lol

[Welsh Dan]

REAL MEN USE WIRELESS


...then get pissed off and break things whilst trying to set it up with XP lmfao

Real men buy 305m boxes of cat5e and don't even touch wireless :p.

[wisewood]

a real man will have a good, and functioning combination of wired network backbone with a wireless option for approved portable devices to gain access when in range.

Yes, your wired network is all good and well, but if you cant sit in your shed at the far end of the garden, supping home-brewed beer, downloading 'legally aquired' music files and keeping up with novaload via your laptop or pda, while chatting for free with your mate in Iraq over skype via your wifi skype handset... what's the use?

:D

[General Baxter]

a real man will have a good, and functioning combination of wired network backbone with a wireless option for approved portable devices to gain access when in range.

Yes, your wired network is all good and well, but if you cant sit in your shed at the far end of the garden, supping home-brewed beer, downloading 'legally aquired' music files and keeping up with novaload via your laptop or pda, while chatting for free with your mate in Iraq over skype via your wifi skype handset... what's the use?

:D

iv got a wired mouse lol

[Jack]

^ not to mention downloading dubious pr0n across your neighbour's wireless broadband :D :thumb:

[Welsh Dan]

Run the cat5 to the shed :p.

I agree with the wireless option, but use cable for the stuff you rely on :).

[wisewood]

My desktop is fully wired, wired mouse, keyboard, network etc. Laptop is wireless ... using the built in keyboard and touchpd - with a wireless mini-mouse on my xmas list, thought i'll never use it lol. Possibly for games on the laptop.

None of my neighbours, within range of the house, have an unsecured network, otherwise i'd never have renewed my broadband deal lol I have however discovered LOADS of free access all over town, including one accessible from the changing rooms & reception at the gym, and comet carpark :D

Oh yeah, and burying a cat5 to the shed is all good and well, but for the effort, its not worth it, especially when you get more than adequate wireless signal down there for browsing & downloading.

Massive bandwidth games might not be much good from down there, but why sit in the shed when you're playing someone in the spare bedroom on the desktop? might as well run a spare cat5 into the network socket on the unit and sit in the next room. Or, if you're playing online, use your desktop - as in most cases a desktop pc is better spec than your laptop... not in my case, as my desktop is old, so probably about the same spec.

[Matt2107]

Grrr.. one comp is running Win98 SE and the other is running XP.

Anyone?

[wisewood]

why is this a problem? how far did you get before you decided it wouldnt work?

we have xp home, xp pro, windows me, windows 98 se and even, i think, a windows 95! here at work.

[Matt2107]

lol.

Its been a while since I did any networking.
Probably.... 8-10 years.

I used to be able to set up 98 on a network but if I'm honest I cant completely remember how to now. I originally thought they were both XP so would be fairly easy to do as XP seems to have a pretty fool proof network wizard.

[wisewood]

set up the xp machine first - then just transfer the settings across to 98.

i assume you'll be using a workgroup, with it only being 2 machines? in which case, just make sure both are using the same workgroup name and you're pretty much there.

[Matt2107]

Cheers.. will try that tonight :D

[wisewood]

there is an option with the windows xp network wizard to copy the data onto a usb flash drive so you can quickly import the data onto other pc's, but i dont think that would work to copy onto a windows98 machine, i've never tried it though.

Set them up so they both use the same workgroup, and assign a static ip address to each of them. 192.168.0.1 & 192.168.0.2 or something like that.
Should work.

Also - remember ntfs formatted drives can't be browsed over the network on a windows98 machine, so if you need any files and xp is using ntfs, you cant get at them.

[Welsh Dan]

Also - remember ntfs formatted drives can't be browsed over the network on a windows98 machine, so if you need any files and xp is using ntfs, you cant get at them.

I think thats wrong, but I don't have a 98 machine to confirm.

I remember it working once you set up the permissions.

[wisewood]

No, its not wrong.

NTFS was developed along with windows NT, which was then the foundation for the increased security in windows 2000 and windows xp. With both windows 2000 and windows xp you have the option when installing to format the disk with either NTFS, or FAT32.

Windows 95 & 98 used FAT, with windows 98 supporting the use of FAT32.

A disk formatted with NTFS cannot be read by windows 98, because windows 98 doesnt even know what NTFS is, let alone how to read it.

If you have set up the permissions etc on a windows xp machine and had a windows 98 pc sharing files and printers etc, you're not using NTFS as your file system, simple as that really. There are loads of NTFS readers out there for windows 98 though, which are quick and easy to install and allow windows 98 to read NTFS.

*edit*
and by way of proving my point further lol
http://www.wisewood.org/blog/gallery/Random/fat_ntfs.jpg

[draper]

ha - even i managed to set my laptop up wirelessly and my psp and im useless with computers !!

[wisewood]

I had a nightmare with the wireless, but it was due to the following things;

1. the router at work wasnt set to allow wireless access, password was lost and it needed to be reset.
2. the router i bought for use at home wasnt compatible with any uk isp (so why are tesco selling it in the uk?) i thought it was faulty and exchanged, replacement didnt work either so refund was had and a netgear bought to match the one at work.

If you've got decent kit, wireless is dead easy. although that said, i still havent quite got the permissions right to access the printer on my xp pro machine from the xp home laptop. Works the other way around though lol Just CBA to sit down and figure it out. Decided in the end to add the My Docs folder on the laptop as a network drive on the desktop - so if i want to print i just open the file on the desktop and print it lol

[draper]

i got my router and wireless card from BT when i signed up for broadband so was confident it would be pretty easy to set tbh

[wisewood]

didnt need router at first as didnt have a laptop - when we bought the laptop with built-in wifi figured might as well get a router otherwise we'd have to sit within range of the telephone socket, and what's the point? lol

The Netgear router is awesome, and dead quick to set up, only needed my isp username and password and it was off and running. and... netgear routers looks pretty too :D

[draper]

that was like mine - although my laptops batteries fooked so i have to sit within range of a socket lol

[Matt2107]

Laptop batteries are like mobile batteries... if you dont flat charge them then they go downhill very quickly.

[wisewood]

?85 for a manufacturers replacement for mine, although its the same price no matter which battery i go for, so might as well get maximum capacity.

[Matt2107]

Would make sense if it doesnt cost any extra.

I'm really after a lap top.
Wouldnt need anything astronomical as I hardly use the comp.

[draper]

ive got my dads other 1 cuz hes bought a new 1 but i think im going to buy my own soon (xmas list methinks)

[wisewood]

I'm really after a lap top.
Wouldnt need anything astronomical as I hardly use the comp.

Got mine from Tesco of all places - ?299.95.
Acer Travelmate 2410
15.4" widescreen
dvd-rw
built in wifi
40gb hdd
256mb ram expandable to 2gb

decent enough for day-to-day use, and pretty much the cheapest thing around - its also not ugly, or too heavy.

[Matt2107]

How long ago was that?

I think I might have to tip the sofa on its end and see what falls out.

[wisewood]

August - maybe back end of july. They still have them in, i've seen them recently.

There were three models to choose from - 300, 400 and 550 quid. Only difference between cheapest and next up was a 60gb hdd and 512mb ram. can buy upgrade parts for that, and sell the original on ebay to recoup some money if you so wish lol

[Welsh Dan]

Firstly, I am this sad.

Secondly, I installed win98 on my second pc, and it reads everything thats shared on my main pc (xp pro), all the drives in my main pc are formatted NTFS. :).

[wisewood]

then you have either;

1. got third party ntfs reading plugin installed with windows 98
2. made this up in a bid to appear correct

lol

it is a simple fact that windows 98 is NOT ntfs compatable out of the box.

[Welsh Dan]

It doesn't need to be, XP handles that bit, the only thing i added to the standard 98 install was the graphics driver. As for 2), feel free to pop around :p.

[wisewood]

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/choosing_between_ntfs_fat_and_fat32.mspx?mfr=true

Scroll down a little to the table with headers NTFS, FAT & FAT32.



A computer running Windows XP or Windows 2000 can access files on an NTFS partition. A computer running Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 4 or later might be able to access some files. Other operating systems allow no access.


You see, i'm not making this sh*t up.

[Welsh Dan]

http://kb.iu.edu/data/acsb.html

[wisewood]

I bow to your knowledge lol but its still a f*cking shoddy network if its got windows 98 on it. Massive security hole, not even a loop-hole, more of a gaping open door lol

[Welsh Dan]

Agreed lol. It releived some boredom anyway :).

[wisewood]

I feel cheated. My MCSA books never mentioned anything of this "cheating".

[Welsh Dan]

lol.

Its something we discovered back when I was a PC technician and attending loads of lanparties around the '98->2k/xp changeover. The biggest problem was the "deny access to this computer from the network for: guest" setting and enabling the guest account and setting permissions on the folders/drives for "everyone", once we got that figured out it was dandy. Before that everyone on '98 had to clone their username+password onto every machine running 2k/xp lol.

[Jack]

screw NTFS, VXFS is where its at lol