Setting up a home network...

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Ok, so as a few of you know, networking is one of the things I know absolutely *nothing* about.

But it has come to the point where I need to share resources between my computer and my dad's...mainly because his computer is a hell of a lot better than my laptop.

So, I'm sharing a DSL connection (between my laptop, my dad's PC, my brother's PC, and on occasion, his laptop) through a Linksys (WRT54G) wireless router. At the moment, a WiFi connection has not been setup...but will be within a month or so.

What I would like to do, is:

• Be able to share resources between my dad's computer and mine only. (my brother doesn't concern himself with internet security.)
• Be able to install BG2, IWD, IWD2, and NWN on my dad's computer, but be able to run the game on my computer.
• Have my Mp3 collection on *his* computer and be able to play them within WinAMP on my computer.

Sounds fairly easy to do those things right? So...ummm, how do I do that?

 

You have FOUR computers in your house? Wow.

Sorry, but I don't know how to answer your question beyond connecting them all up and hoping that something happens.

 

First, they all have ot have the same OS. Then the easiest way to set up a network if you have XP is just to let Windows do it for you. It shouldn't be too hard to exclude sharing with your brother's PC if you have access to it. I think it would be a bit slow to run prgrams off his PC, but it should be possible.

Question? Do you want to put those programs on your dad's PC because of HD space. If so, an external HD might be better.

 

Ballrock, here's the full deal.

My laptop's HDD is dying, and I can't afford a new one right now. Howeverm the new PC I built for my dad has a nice 80GB drive, and with all the software my dad wants/needs on his computer, there is still 75GB of free space on his drive.

So since I can't afford a new drive I thought that I could borrow some space on my dad's drive (so I can get my game fix). Every computer in the house has WinXP with SP2, so that's not an issue.

But that still doesn't answer my question of how I actually set up a network.

 

Sorry, I over simplified. If you have all the computers hard wired through a hub (router) you just go to the primary PC (the one that sits right by the router) and go to Network settings and run the Network Wizard. I haven't done it in a while, but I remember it to be easy, just a matter of following the prompts. You make the PC at the router in essence to be the server for your home network. Then to access one PC from another, you have to allow sharing in the Network connection. Then it is just a matter of going to My Network Places and diving into the other PCs resources.

 

It's a bit complicated, actually. Like Brallrock said, having the same OS simplifies things, but it's feasable to build a home network with different OS - eg: A Linux server.

I'm not a network expert, but I know you will have to properly configure the "Microsoft network printer and file sharing client", the TCP/IP protocol (you can get the IP of your network card by typing "ipconfig" in a DOS prompt window), and the "Microsoft network client".

Once all that is done, you have to setup file sharing. For that, IIRC, you'll have to disable the individual sessions manager. Once that is done, choose what you want to share, and define the parameters. (Read-only, full access, name, etc.) I'd recommend stashing what you want to store on a different partition of your dad's hard drive, and share this one, which will become the network drive. To access the shared files, open any window (like my documents, or whatever) and type in the name of the network drive. If the network parameters are OK, you will have access to the files.

 

I don't remember doing all of that, but I was mostly setting it up, because my dad wanted one, I don't think we did much with it. He was kindof funny that way.

Kit, I went to microsoft.com and typed in home networking in the search, and they had quite a bit of useful info there.

[ April 30, 2006, 04:22: Message edited by: Brallrock ]

 

1. Go to Control Panel -> System -> Computer Name -> Change.... Make sure the computers are in the same Workgroup (this is not necessary but it simplifies things).

2. Go to Control Panel -> Folder Options -> View, on the computer that you want to share files and make sure that "Use simple file sharing" is ticked. After this browse to a folder that you want to share and then right-click on it and go to properties to enable sharing.

3. Then go to your computer and click on My Network Places. The resources that you shared should come up there after a while. If they do not you should be able to browse there, Entire Network -> Microsoft Windows Network (you should see the workgroup and the computer).

Of course the above assumes that the local area network is working properly and that no one has modified the default windows settings. If you are using third party firewalls they may need some setting changes to allow this traffic.

If you cannot see the computer in the My Network Places you can connect to it using the IP address by typing \\<IP address> (for example \\192.168.0.100) in the address bar.

[ April 30, 2006, 15:24: Message edited by: Erod ]

 

Ok, somehow I managed to do it right.

I decided not to install any games, because I don't want to have to deal with any lag issues...

But my dad's computer suddenly lost about 3GB of space over the weekend. The best part is, once I get up to 8GB, I can just burn everything to a DVD.

It's not fair! My dad has a better computer than me!

 

Hmm, I may need to look at this advice some day. When we move to our new house, I'll probably get a new PC that can hold all our music (now that we pretty much use our PC as our primary music source now) but the PC will probably be located upstairs (whereas the stereo will be downstairs). We might have to use the laptop as a discrete client downstairs (so we can choose songs etc) and use the main PC as a server upstairs. Any extra tips on this that I should bear in mind?

 

A question on this: if I install a game in the 'server' computer, where the game meets the system requirements, can run on a computer which doesn't?
I mean, I install NeverWinter on the server, where the game runs smooth, it will run smooth in my laptop, where the game won't run smooth if installed on this one? Will the game use the system on the installed computer instead on the playing computer?

 

It downloads the program to the memory of your laptop and runs it there, if it were to be otherwise, the server would be brought to it's knees if multiple users played NWN at the same time.

 

First, unless you have a multiuser license only one person could play the game at a time.

Two, if the computer you're downloading to is below recommended specs I doubt the game would run.

My experience with networking was for business so I can't be 100% sure I'm right. If someone tries it and succeeds I would love to hear about it.

 

You're not. I've never tried it either, but know someone who spent a good deal of time trying to get it to work (and he's what I would consider a network wizard). It never did.
It technically should be possible, but none of the remote software that I know of (well, that he knew of at the time, to be honest) were any good. If you do attempt it though, the computer the game's installed on had better be REALLY good.

 

IIRC, there was a really good article in PC World that showed how to set up a media server. Basically, your upstairs computer could act as the 'server', then you could have a box connected to the server and to the A/V ports on your stereo system, that way you can listen to all your Mp3s on a nice sound system while controlling them from your couch!

I'm not sure how to get a setup like that up and running, but if *I* can set up a WiFi network, anyone can...and setting up a media server shouldn't be too hard either. If you buy a good brand (linksys was a great help with easy to follow instructions), then it should be a piece of cake.

 

Hmm, I will have to do a bit more research. Does anyone know what that Mediacentre version of Windows does? That must help in some way.

 

It makes viewing windows from a TV and using a remote control to ummm...control windows a peice of cake. IIRC, on startup, you have a menu similar to a DVD's menu for 'My Pictures', 'My Music' and stuff like that.

You don't really need Windows Media Center for a media server.