[Aryan King]

I have a Dell lap top and a Compaq desk top ,both with Windows XP and think it might be useful to link the two together to work with.

The little I have read so and can understand seems to say the simplest way is to link both with just a double USB hook up?Is there such a thing?Do I need a router with only two computers? What the use of a router?I am thinking I can rum both computers through a USB hub once I get the double USB connection,then I can access info in both computers???

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im not sure about neworking with usb> I know the best way is with ethernet. Using cat5 wire. you dont need a router if you just hooked up 2 computers. You can use a router to hook up 2 or more comp, if you don have eithernet card u can find em here. your laptop shot have a plug for ethernet in the back, if not they have ethernet cards at newegg to, and they also have usb adapters too.

http://www.newegg.co...=ethernet cards

they start at $5.99 and up

Edited by andrew brunner, 28 January 2008 - 07:01 PM.

[andrew brunner]

im not sure about neworking with usb> I know the best way is with ethernet. Using cat5 wire. you dont need a router if you just hooked up 2 computers. You can use a router to hook up 2 or more comp, if you don have eithernet card u can find em here. your laptop shot have a plug for ethernet in the back, if not they have ethernet cards at newegg to, and they also have usb adapters too.

http://www.newegg.co...=ethernet cards

they start at $5.99 and up

Edited by andrew brunner, 28 January 2008 - 07:01 PM.

[Samm]

Hi there

You can link 2 computers together via USB, but you need to use a special device, such as the Belkin Direct Connect, for example.

Alternatively, if both systems have network cards in, then you can simply use a cross-over (ethernet) cable. This connects the 2 network cards and allows the 2 systems to communicate directly with each. This would probably be the cheapest method. The only disadvantage is that it requires a bit of configuration and if you use the network card on either system for accessing the internet (for example) as well, then it gets more problematic.

If you do already have one or more of these systems on the internet, then your best bet may be a router. This would allow you to transfer data between the two systems, allow both system access to the internet simultaneously, and in most cases, also provides an extra layer of protection in the form of a hardware firewall.

Edited by Samm, 28 January 2008 - 07:07 PM.

[Tyger]

For me the simplest way is to use a router, which is handy to have anyway because you can keep your network login info in it, and put an FTP server on one machine and an FTP client on the other. A good server is from http://www.ftpshell.com and a good client is coreftplite.