2 Computers connected to broadband via wireless router -- connect to each other?

Dave!

Long-ass title, lol

We just got a router yesterday, which allows us all to use the internet on our laptops while someone else is using it on the PC.

So I was just wondering, if we're both using the same network, then it must be possible to connect from one computer to the other (with or without consent? )

We've got Windows XP on the PC, and I've got OS X on the Mac laptop. So perhaps someone could help me with the following;

1. What commands in DOS and Darwin/shell can be used to list the current connections to the network? (so I can see which computers are actually connected)
2. What commands can be used to connect from 1 to the other?

Thanks for any help!

RangeR

This is quite easy. I can help you on the Windows side but not the mac side.

I suppose the first thing you should try is find out the IP address of each machine and ping them from each other

On the windows computer:

• Click Start -> Run
• Type cmd then click the OK button
• The Command Window should open [big black box that you can type into]
• Type ipconfig [if that doesn't give you the correct info, then type ipconfig /all]
• This should tell you the IP address of your machine. It should be something like 192.168.0.x or 192.168.1.x, where x is a number.

Get the IP address of the MAC [I'm not sure on this]. When you have the MAC IP address. Do this on your Windows computer.

• Click Start -> Run
• If you've closed the Command Window, type cmd then click the OK button
• The Command Window should open again
• Type ping 192.168.x.x [where x.x is the last two segments on your mac machine]

You should get something like below. Note that I typed ping 192.168.0.101 to get this text below.

Pinging 192.168.0.101 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 192.168.0.101: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.101: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.101: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.101: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 192.168.0.101:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms

If it can't "see" your MAC, you may get something like this

Pinging 192.168.0.101 with 32 bytes of data:

Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.

Ping statistics for 192.168.0.101:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

If we've got this far and both machines can "see" each other, you will need to share out various hard drives or folders on each machine. Basically any drives or folders or printers that you may want to use on other machines.


To share folders or drives on the windows machine,

• Open Windows Explorer
• Right click on any drive or folder you want to share
• Choose "Sharing and Security"
• A window will pop up, just fill in the details. Make sure you choose the "Share This Folder" option
• Click OK

To share a printer on a windows machine

• Click Start -> Printers and Faxes
• Right click on the printer you want to share
• Click "Sharing"
• When the sharing window opens, select the "Share this printer" option and give it a name.
• Click OK

Once all this is done, you should be able to "connect" to them from the Mac.

If someone here can help you share out the MAC stuff, all you need to do in Windows is

• Find out the name of the MAC computer
• Open Windows Explorer
• In the address bar type \\<MAC_COMPUTER_NAME> Where <MAC_COMPUTER_NAME> is the name of your MAC
• After a couple of seconds, if all goes well, you should see the list of shared drives, folders and printers on the MAC.
• The easiest way to use the shares [except printers] is to right click on one of them and choose "Map Network Drive". This lets you assign a drive letter to a share so it will always appear in the drive list on your windows computer.

To find your computer name on a windows machine.

• Open Windows Explorer
• Right click on "My Computer" and choose "Properties"
• Select the Computer NAme tab on the top of the new window.

If you need any more help on the windows side of things, don't be afraid to ask.

Dave!

Thanks very much, you're a saint I'll give that a lash later on, tis a bit late/early right now

Thanks again