Hi

I am a newbie to networking. I want to network two computers at home running Win98SE. Can two computers be networked via Serial or Parallel ports? If this is possible, then are network cards required? Could somebody suggest me a good tutorial on networking?

rational611

its possible, but it would be WAY slow!

ur far better off get two cheap nics (network interface cards - make sure u get the right type probably PCI, but if ur systems r kinda old they may need ISA cards) and a cross-over rj45 cable

Well, you can directly connect two computers using a parallel to parallel, or serial to parallel cable (do a google search for "windows direct connect"), but as far as sharing internet access, you're better off buying two (one for each computer) nics, and either a hub or a switch which provides for more than two computers to be on the network. otherwise, if you only want those two computers on your network, then i'd go with aeinstein's suggestion of buing a cross-over cable, which connects both of the nics

I was under the impression that serial to parallel cable would not work. (At least not with the Windows Direct Connection software) Correct me if I am wrong.

rational611, please be more descriptive when you name a thread. Here are the rules when posting: http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforum...nouncementid=2

Please obey the rules. You'll get better responses that way. You don't want to be warned or banned by not obeying them.

On that note, enjoy the forums!

Just get two $5 ethernet cards and get a $10 hub and network them plain and simple. P to P is just a waste of time resources and gives everyone a headache. By the way make sure you enable file & print sharing since your on a weak old system with no memory management please follow there certain cirts.