XP pro & XP Home issues

[Guest]

I have a desktop computer running Windows XP professional SP1. It is
connected to the internet via a USB ADSL modem.
I have recently purchased a 8 port network Switch and connected the Desktop
computer running XP pro and my two Laptop computers running XP home edition
to the switch using their LAN connections. I then ran the XP network setup on
the desktop computer and then on the laptops.
The two XP home machines are visible to each other in "my network places",
but the XP pro machine is not visible on either of the XP Home machines. If I
open "my network places" on the XP pro machine, I cannot see any computer.
I can not access the internet from either of the two XP home machines, but
the XP pro machine is working properly.
Would appreciate any advice!
Regards,

 

[me]

my simple suggestion would be to use internet connection sharing. in your
dsl connection properties, there is an option to share the connection. when
asking what connection to share, the only option is obviously the lan
connection. when you enable it, the lan connection ip address will change to
192.168.0.1 then on the two xp home systems, change the tcp/ip settings to
dhcp (automatically obtain ip and dns settings). they will get their ip from
the pro system. they should all have internet connectivity