Re: [PLUG] Re: Newbie's first question - a quick reply

[Bill Jonas <bill@billjonas.com>]

On Tue, Apr 30, 2002 at 03:52:56PM -0400, George Langford wrote:
> I think that what I need to do to extract the several hundred MB 
> from the W98 machine's hard drive is to set up a direct connection 
> between the two machines.
...
> Can I do this over a phone line without connecting to the 
> outside world ? In other words, with a null modem ?

I think the modem(s) need to hear a dial tone, though there's probably
some way around that.

But consider this: At those speeds (56Kb/s), it would take you somewhere
around 35 and a half hours to transfer 700MB (one CD's worth) of data.
Better would be to connect using a serial cable between the machines; it
will transfer data around 115Kb/s.  However, that will still take the
better part of 24 hours.  I forget how fast a parallel port can move
data, but I don't think it's much faster, if at all.  (You can hook up a
parallel cable between the two machines (the kind commonly called a
"Laplink" cable).)

Your best bet, in my opinion, would be to go get a couple of network
cards and a crossover ethernet cable.  You can connect the machines
directly to one another without a hub or switch, and the math works out
such that 100Mb ethernet is approximately 1785 times faster than a
modem.  (You never actually get the full 100Mb/s, but it's still in the
neighborhood of 1000 times faster, or three orders of magnitude.)  In
anycase, it would take just a few minutes to transfer the same amount of
data.  The cost for a couple of ethernet cards plus a cable should be no
more than $40-$60, and you'll still have the network cards after the
data transfer.  I think rather highly of the Linksys "EtherFast 10/100
LAN Card" (model number LNE100TX); it runs about $25.  You can also find
Linux-compatible network cards as low as $15.  Be sure to get a "Cat5
crossover cable"; <simplification> this is important as crossover cables
are specifically designed for hooking up two computers directly to each
other. </simplification>  Also available for 

In any case, we can help with getting the network cards configured;
serial or parallel connections might be a little trickier since one of
the machines is a Microsoft Windows host.  (I'm not sure what protocol
the "Direct Cable Connection" uses and if MS Windows supports PPP or
SLIP (serial) or PLIP (parallel) for direct machine-to-machine
connections.)

-- 
Bill Jonas    *    bill@billjonas.com    *    http://www.billjonas.com/
"They that can give up  essential  liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."        -- Benjamin Franklin

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