Linux <-- Crossover --> XP
 

Now, I am familiar with connecting two machines, albeit windows based, via crossover cable. How would one, if one would want, go about linking an XP machine with a Mandrake Machine if just perhaps to move personal data files....if such files would require hours of burn time to put to CD, which one would like to avoid?

I feel like an idiot asking this question (and not just for the gratuitious use of the word 'one') , yes, and I know the blantantly obvious solution would be to network via a hub.....and one may wonder why I want to do this ass backwards. Thing is, money is tight and I have a newborn. All computer fundage/budgeting has been pulled from IT (me) by the government (my wife) for other allocated programs (my daughter), respectively.

Any info on configuration and the like would be greatly appreciated. And this would be the method of choice until my pennies turn to nickels, my nickels to dimes and so on and so forth.

Thanks! You're all the best!

You should be able to connect a Windows XP box and Linux box together with a cross-over cable, and have them communicate without any serious problems. A few things to be aware of is that the two machines must be able to see each other (i.e. Be on the same network). You may have to set the IP address on each box manually. If you are not familiar with this process please respond and I will be happy to go into more detail.

If you have gotten this far and can successfully have each box ping the other, then you are ready to work on getting data across. I think that the easiest way to accomplish this is to start up FTP (vsftpd) on the Linux machine. And then connect from the XP box and simply push over any files that you would like to move.

I hope that this is helpful.

Ok, so we have two machines. XP machine is connected to the cable modem via USB for the purpose of this duct tape job. I have a new crossover cable made that is connected to both machines.

XP Box has an ip of 10.0.0.10 M10 Box an ip of 10.0.0.11

Cable modem has it's ip from the ISP. Currently, neither machine can pingchat with the other. Could I have done the pins wrong or does one or both boxes need some extra loving care?

Any help appreciated greatly!

Ok, keep in mind that the IP address for the Windows box that you are seeing is likely for the virtual interface on the USB port, not for the network interface which your cross over cable is plugged into.

If you go to a command prompt on your XP box and type 'ipconfig -all' it should give you a listing of every interface that it thinks that it has. I would guess that you have the USB connection that is 10.0.0.10 and another interface that likely has some other value. If this is the case, you should be able to go into the control panel and locate networking, and find the pull down menu that allows you to select your interface. From here you will want to find the specific interface that you crossover cable is plugged into. Once this is identified you will want to configure this interface for a static IP address.

I would suggest that you select an address on a different network from you USB interface, in hopes of avoiding any confusion. Such as 192.168.1.10, set the netmask to 255.255.255.0 once these changes are made, click on OK, then OK again at the main network screen. Then change the IP address on the Linux box to match, such as 192.168.1.11, also with a netmask of 255.255.255.0 at this point the boxes would hopefully be able to ping each other.