Desktop PC Linux FC3 or WinXP (dual boot) both are able to connect to the Internet by a dial up modem.

Laptop WinXP connected to the desktop by an Ethernet cable is able to use the same Internet connection as the WinXP desktop. NOT able to do the same thing if the desktop is Linux FC3.

Not sure of the correct terminology to be able to find a solution. Not sure of what I have already working in WinXP to be able to duplicate it in Linux FC3. Is this call bridging or is this a LAN? Is the desktop the host? and the laptop the client or does it matter? Do I have to set up the laptop as an item in Linux Network Configuration?

I believe you need to set up your Fedora to perform IP masquerading. This is where any requests from the internal network (in your case, the laptop), are mangled so that they appear to the outside world to be originating from your gateway machine (the desktop).

There are two programs that I can think of that will help you get this working:

Guarddog - This is an easy to use GUI for configuring a firewall on a Linux box.
Guidedog - This is another program, designed for use with Guarddog, that can configure your machine for IP masquerading (i.e. act as a gateway for you laptop).

Hope this helps.

Pete

Thanks, I'll have to check on those "dogs".

I was able to get the NIC Ethernet card working by turning off the auto obtain IP address and turning on the "statically set IP addresses". Entered 196.168.0.0 for address, but left blank the other two, "subnet mask" and "default gateway address". Didn't know what to put in those two. Laptop WinXP can see Linux FC3, but says it fail to assign a network address to the computer. I'm not sure if the "computer" means for the Laptop or Desktop. (Linux FC3: Applications -> System Settings -> Network -> click on eth0 -> edit)

Also on the Linux FC3 desktop the "computer" icon shows a "network" icon. Clicking on the network icon shows a "Windows Network" icon. Clicking it shows nothing inside of it.

I've just been through the process in reverse, i.e. getting a linux client to connect to the 'net through an XP machine. I presume a lot of the setup (local addresses etc) will be the same - the thread is here . Hope it helps.