Should I go this way? 2 Machine Lan (X-over cable) + usb modem internet?
 

Hi all
I have a very nice DVD bootable copy of 'Sarge' which weighs in at 4.4GB. Nice. But my problem is I wish to connect 2 machines both capable of handling 'Sarge' together with a simple cross over cable via an on board LAN (the Asrock K7S8X machine) and a PCI LAN (the Gigabyte GA-7XE machine). The Gigabyte machine has the USB Alcatel 300 Modem.
Question is how?

Mad Malc:confused:

With a router and DHCP. You can buy one online for under $40. You COULD do it with two NIC's in one machine and the crossover cable but it's more trouble than it's worth in my opinion.

I will probably end up going the way you suggest, I am off to a local computer fair today.
The strange thing is this appears to be difficult (using a X-over cable to share a USB Modem) in many Operating systems, yet it is touted as being the simplest solution?

Mad Malc

As long as both machines are set to use DHCP (which I believe they are by default) they will both use the router as a DHCP server, get network addresses at boot, and connect without incident.

You will also need a straight or "patch" cable as opposed to a crossover cable. These are under $5 and probably less at the show. You can tell if it's a straight through cable by holding both ends side by side and compairing the colors to locations. Straight will be the same and crossover will be mirror image.

If you wish to set up simple file and printer sharing it is a little more work but again not much.

Jimi_l

P.S. at the show stay away from REAL cheapie, no-name stuff. Look for a brand name like Linksys, D-link, Belkin, etc. Also DON'T pay too much for it. I have seen this commonly lately at a few different computer shows. Vendors selling open box or used junk at full retail price. Check some prices at a store near you and don't pay more than you could retail.