How to be a Lpb at home!

Nemesis

Ok,
My brother in law is bringing his computer down to my house.
What do I need to connect the 2 computers and have a game of Quake LPB style.
Please keep instructions Simple for the lad who presses alt-f4 to see the options he gets on IRC. :)Well did once anyway.

Von

U need a serial cable.They're cheap. Check the serial ports on both machines so u get a cable that fits both. Used to play doom like this.

: Ok,
: My brother in law is bringing his computer down to my house.
: What do I need to connect the 2 computers and have a game of Quake LPB style.
: Please keep instructions Simple for the lad who presses alt-f4 to see the options he gets on IRC. :)Well did once anyway.

Hobbes

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Ronin

: Ok,
: My brother in law is bringing his computer down to my house.
: What do I need to connect the 2 computers and have a game of Quake LPB style.
: Please keep instructions Simple for the lad who presses alt-f4 to see the options he gets on IRC. :)Well did once anyway.

Seen as your getting isdn or have it by now..y not just set up a loan in your house???isn`t that hard or expensive..
hehe :)then you could play net lpb style

2 network cards, a mini hub, some cat 5 , rj45 cable and your sorted..plus you`d be able to do things easier..

Ro.

LegacyUser

: : U need a serial cable.They're cheap. Check the serial ports on both machines so u get a cable that fits both. Used to play doom like this.

: Better yet. Get a Parallel link cable (Petes will sell you one cheap, tell them you want a laplink Printer port cable).

: You will also have to run direct cable connect in Windows 95 if you want to run WinQuake/Q2. If your going to use TCP/IP to play, you will have to assign an IP address to both machines. Say 10.0.0.1 to one, and 10.0.0.2 to the other.

: No idea how to do it outside of Win95. I proberly didn't make much sense, if so I'll explain it in more detail later

: Hobbes.

Stick with Von !!
Yaa dont wont a tcpip lan!

Hobbes

: Stick with Von !!
: Yaa dont wont a tcpip lan!

Maybe not, however if you want to run later games over the network you will as Serial port to my knowledge will not support TCP/IP. Also the serial port is much slower then the Paralell, while the price for the two cables is much the same. Oh don't worry I don't take it personal if someone has alternative comment to make Mr gfdssfdg

LegacyUser

Most machines have 4 com ports. One is modem, one is the mouse, you cannot run Com1+3 together or Com2+4 together (least I never could due to conflicts. So if you do go the serial cable way, and you have an internal modem you may have to start swopping ports around, so the game doesn't crash everytime you wiggle the mouse.

Shiminay

: : U need a serial cable.They're cheap. Check the serial ports on both machines so u get a cable that fits both. Used to play doom like this.

: Better yet. Get a Parallel link cable (Petes will sell you one cheap, tell them you want a laplink Printer port cable).

: You will also have to run direct cable connect in Windows 95 if you want to run WinQuake/Q2. If your going to use TCP/IP to play, you will have to assign an IP address to both machines. Say 10.0.0.1 to one, and 10.0.0.2 to the other.

: No idea how to do it outside of Win95. I proberly didn't make much sense, if so I'll explain it in more detail later

: Hobbes.

As an after thought, make sure you are running the same version of Win95 on both machines, otherwise, it won't work. Tried that with a mate of mine and that was the only reason we could find - our lecturer came to the same conclusion.
If anyone has gotten it to work on different versions on Win95, please gimmie a shout!

Dav
@B^)

LegacyUser

: Ok,
: My brother in law is bringing his computer down to my house.
: What do I need to connect the 2 computers and have a game of Quake LPB style.
: Please keep instructions Simple for the lad who presses alt-f4 to see the options he gets on IRC. :)Well did once anyway.

Righto then..

How to bake a mini LAN

---

Ingredients:

2 ethernet cards (Thinwire/CAT-5)
One length of thinwire cable or one
cross-over CAT-5 cable.
2 PCs (duh!)

Preparation:

Install the ethernet cards, and their drivers,
you're on your own here mate.

Now for the cabling. You have two choices here,
and the one you choose depends on what cable is
available, and what connectors your ethernet cards
have.

1. Use Thinwire. This cabling was used in older
networks, linking workstations together in a simple
chain, no other hardware (hubs etc.) are needed.

The cable looks like a thinner version of TV cable,
and the connector for the cable on the back of an
ethernet card looks quite like the back of a TV set
(as opposed to CAT-5 or "Twisted-pair" connectors,
which look much like phone sockets).

Check the ethernet cards you are using, and make sure
you have the 'TV-like' connectors, or you can't use
Thinwire.

In the simple case of 2 PCs, you will need 1 length of
Thinwire cable, two T-connectors (one for connecting
to each machine) and two terminators (small connectors
which mark the ends of the network).

It should look something like this (with a third
PC in the center of the network for clarity):

*-+-=====-+-=====-+-*

where * are the two terminators,
-+- is a T-connector (it's like a T-junction, with
three sockets. One connects to the computer, the
other two connect to the network to the 'left'
and 'right' in the case of the center PC, or to
the 'right' and a terminator in the case of the left
side PC.

Once you've connected the two PCs together, and
made sure the terminators are in place, you can
start configuring things.

2. The second cable-type to use is CAT-5. This cabling
is more modern, and is used in most current ethernet
networks. The cable and connectors resemble those
used by telephones, so check to see if your ethernet
card has such a connector before continuing.

CAT-5 cable is almsot always used for connecting a
PC to a hub, networks are not laid out in a chain
like Thinwire, but in a star configuration - all PCs
connect back to a single central hub, which handles
moving data from one PC to another.

I doubt you can get your hands on a hub, so you'll
have to use another method of connecting your 2 PCs
together using CAT-5.

To use CAT-5 cabling without a central hub, you will
have to use a special type of CAT-5 cable called a
'cross-over' cable. The reason for this is that CAT-5
cable is normal made to connect from PCs to hubs, from
there to other PC on the network.

If you want to connect straight from one PC to another,
without the intermediate step, wires inside the cable will
have to be switched or 'crossed-over' in the cable connector
or it won't work. This scheme only works for a two
PC network, anymore PCs and you'll have to get a hub
if you want to continue using CAT-5. And remember, if
you _do_ get a hub, don't use the crossed-over cable
with it.

So, get a crossed-over CAT-5 cable, plug one card into the
other and yer laughin.

Right, those are the two schemes, so, which one do
you use? If your cards only have CAT-5 connectors,
you'll have to use a cross-over cable, or get normal
cables and a hub. If your card only has a Thinwire
connector, then use Thinwire (duh!).

If your card has both (many do), then I'd go for
Thinwire. Most places are throwing away they're
Thinwire networks, so you should get the cable either
cheap or free, if you know the right people.

You don't need to buy a hub (though they're not too
expensive these days) and you can add as many PCs
to the network as you like (well, not more than 20
if you want serious optimal bandwidth for quake).

With CAT-5, you either use a cross-over cable and
limit yourself to 2 PCs, or buy a hub and standard
cables, and limit yourself to the number of ports
on the hub (typically they go 4, 8, 10, 12, on
upwards, ask Reaper for prices. :P )

A chain-style network also suits the layout of your
standard house better (this I know! ) as only one
cable snakes from room to room. In the case of a CAT-5
based network, you have a separate cable for each PC, all
leading back to a central point, which while great
for office buildings, leads to a mess in a house.

Bandwidth-wise, there's no difference between CAT-5
with a hub and Thinwire, both model a single ethernet
network where each packet is sent around the network
for all to see. If you're swanky and buy a switch
for your cat5 network, things get different, but I
won't get into that.

So, to sum up, first choose a cable type that
matches the connectors on your cards, and takes into
consideration the future needs of your network (if
you decide to hold a lan party, its cool to have a
sensible network in place before hand).

Next! The software side. I'll do that tomorrow,
unless someone beats me to it.. damn compsci finals.

[note to people who know all this: I'd welcome any
corrections, it _is_ nearly 1am, and I have exams
atm, so my brain isn't working well. And apologies
for saying 'CAT-5' and 'Thinwire' all the time. Feel
free to replace each with '10BaseT', '10Base2',
'Thin-net', 'BNC' etc. whatever floats yer boat. ]