Virtual Network Computing / Thin Clients HELP!

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Soz for this geeky boring question for the sane and normals of IW.
Anyway,
I am trying to network two laptops together for the first time using Virtual Network Computing software VNC.

I want to know as a newbie just how to go about connecting 2 comps together... what cables...etc.

Can I use: usb? IR? or some other cable? a LAN cable?
I really don't have a clue...

Weisi Guo

[Bruce The Aussie]

i don't kniow about virtual networking but the easiest way to network 2 laptops is to buy a network card for each and use a straight through cable to connect them. or a crossover if your using a hub. if you wanna network them over the net (aka, using virtual networking) then i haven't a clue. i know zero alpha (also known as tech support to me) would be able to help you.

[andrewas]

Forget VNC, thats used for secure networking over the internet. If that is what your trying to do, then I cant help as Ive only set up VNC clients, not the entire network.

For the more common setup, most laptops have a NIC built in these days. It will have a RJ45 jack on it, and if you look in your manual it will be labeled ethernet interface or LAN interface.

For just two laptops, a crossover cable will suffice, for more than that you need a hub and straight-through cables. Cables should be CAT5. The hub, if you get one should have 100Mbps capability at least. Never plug a crossover into a hub or a straight cable between a machine and a hub. It can cause damage apparently.

Just plug one end of the cable into the NIC on one laptop, and the other end into either the hub or the other laptop, whichever way you choose to set it up.

Now comes the fun part. Windows 98 dosent do much to help here, but if you bough the laptop the real drudgery should be done and the TCP/IP drivers should be installed already. Right click on network neighborhood, go into properties. Select the TCP/IP driver bound to your NIC (itll look something like "TCP/IP -> D-link", depending on what brand of NIC you have) and go into the properties. You need to set a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 on both machines, and IP addresses of 192.168.0.1 on the first machine, 192.168.0.2 on the second. Those IP addys are reserved for LAN use, in theory any addy will work as long as the subnet is right, but its bad practice to do so since it may(will) cause troubles if the LAN ever gets connected to the internet.

Windows XP is similar. You have to go into network connections from control panel, under "Local or high speed internet" there will be a LAN connection, bring up its properties and put in subnet 255.255.255.0, IP addresses same as above.

Gateway and DNS settings are for internet use, and you dont have to worry about them.

[Bungleau]

Andrewas gave you lots of good info. PC to PC is a local area network or LAN, and just TCP/IP will do fine. I use Linksys for my networking equipment, and you can get a multiport router rather cheaply. With it, all I need are straight-through cables.

When you ask for network cables at your local computer store, they will give you straight-through cables. You will actually have to ask for a crossover cable if you need one; it's the exception, not the rule.

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Ah cheers everyone that's really useful! [img]smile.gif[/img]
Will try it and let u guys know [img]smile.gif[/img]

Weisi