PLIP doesn't sound like the best solution for you, as you would need to get some kind of parallel switch - and those are notorious for causing problems rather than fixing them.
SLIP/PPP sounds like a possible solution. You do not have to use the modems at all. If you have a serial port on your server (you do) and a serial port on your client (you do) then you can connect a 'null-modem' cable between the two computers. You can then set the laptop (client) as a terminal on the server (desktop), or run PPP or SLIP (PPP seems to be more common and supported) to give you a more traditional protocol for networking (TCP/IP or NetBIOS, or whatever for resource sharing). Ethernet. Although PPP will work for you, ethernet is really the only way to go. It is much faster, and although it way seem as though ethernet setup will be complicated, it is not, as linux is a network operating system, it really has the required protocols and hooks for ethernet running all the time already. My suggestions: buy a PCI ethernet card for the desktop (I like the Netgear FA-103 myself - it uses the DEC Tulip chip and there is WIDE support all over the place for it) and then find a pc-card ethernet card for the laptop. That will be the expensive part, but you should be able to find one for <$50USD. There are two other options. Parallel to ethernet adapters and USB to ethernet adapters. If your laptop has USB ports (maybe) then you can buy an external adapter that converts from USB to ethernet, and almost all adapters will have Win98 drivers. The other option is very similar - a parallel to ethernet adapter that has Win98 drivers. This is a good list for setup questions - when you decide which way to go - let us help you with the configuration - but also read the relevent howtos - Ethernet, or PPP, or Serial, or PLIP, or ... . -Percival On Sat, Mar 25, 2000 at 03:55:08PM -0600, Daniel Yang wrote: > Hi, > I am wondering how I set up my personal computer networking at home. Here is > what I have. > 2 computers: > IBM ThinkPad Laptop running window 98 (client) > > Dell Desktop running Linux debian 2.1 (server) > > I was thinking the options of setting up the networking between them. > 1. PLIP > Since I have only one parallel port for each computer respectively, the > parallel port on my dell destop is connected on a printer. So PLIP seems not > possible to do. > 2. PPP/SLIP > Interesting, I have a PC card modem on Thinkpad, and another two modems on > Dell. The reason I have 2 modems on the linux because one of them is > winmodem, It doesn't work under linux. The another modem on the linux is used > to connect to ISP through PPP dial up. If this seems to be a good approch, do > I need anther modem for Linux to be able to connect to Thinkpad thru > SLIP/PPP. Which is better or easier to set up , SLIP or PPP? > 3. Ethernet > If neither of above two options don't work, I guess I have to buy the > Ethernet cards and cable for both compouters. It sounds more complicated to > me. > > Does any of you have the good ideas of what is the best way to set them up. > The objective is to allow both computers interconnected and be able to access > Internet thru the current PPP dial up account. > > Thank you and appreciate the response. > > Daniel > > >
