Directly connecting to another computer

[franks_csa]

I have 2 XP boxes and I want to share files and folders.

How can the 2 PCs be connected to each other
at my home(I do not have a home network)?
I have one Broadband Internet connection at home.

Can the PCs be connected through the ethernet cable?

I remember having read somewhere about Peer to Peer
cables that connect nicely to USB/Serial/Parallel ports.

Do I need additional HW(for, say, installing a NW at home)?
[Just so that you are aware, I am able to connect
both computers to the LAN at my workplace.]

Can anyone help?

p.s. I am NW ignorant so a dummies kindda explanation
would be great!

 

[Kurt]

Although there are a number of ways to do this, the simplest, fastest, and
most reliable way is Ethernet. There are a variety of ways you can to this.

Most "Broadband" Internet connection devices have Ethernet ports. Many have
a single "WAN" or "Public" port (or phone line for DSL) and 4 or more "LAN"
or "Private" ports. If you have one of those, just get an ethernet card for
both computers (for as little as $5.00 each on-line) and an ethernet cable.
Use the XP wizard for setting up a home network.

Some broadband devices (like cable modems) just have one "LAN" port.
(A) Some of those are Bridges, meaning they give your computer a public IP
address and just pass it through.

(B) Others do NAT (Network Address Translation), where as many as 254
Private address are assigned to computers connected to the LAN port, and are
translated to the public IP address when contacting the Internet.

If you have "A", you'll need a broadband router.
If you have "B", you'll need an Etherenet hub or switch.

....kurt

 

[franks_csa]

Does a crossover ethernet cable suffice?

 

[Kurt]

Yes, if just connecting the two computers. If yo want them to share the
internet connection, you'll need a cable form each to the broadband router.
You cold use Internet Connection Sharing, but most people have a lot of
trouble with it (although it works really well once set up correctly).

....kurt