Home Network

I have two computers next to each other, both running XP Pro. The main one has an ADSL MODEM connected to the LAN. It has a second LAN card. The other has a LAN card. Is it possible to network the two without a hub?

Ta

 

Do you mean the adsl modem connected to the LAN Card ?

You can connect 2 pcs directly using a p2p network which would require a crossover however I would recomend a router.

There are several reasons for this:

1) Having your adsl modem connected directly to one machine is amongst other things a security risk if you are not running a firewall and even then not the best way. A router would act as a hardware firewall blocking all ports except the ones you choose to forward (You should still use a software firewall to block outgoing connections)

2) Using a p2p network and having all computers being able to access the internet would require you to use ICS which in my experience isn't very much fun.

3) having a router would allow you to connect more computers to the network if you needed to and would allow internet on all the machine in a much simpler manner and would also 'network' the machines for file access etc

 

AS Matt said yes it is possible with a cross-over cable instead of a network cable. I ran two machines like this for a few years without any problems other than the main computer (ie the one connected to the modem) needs to be on for the other to access the internet. Using the simple network wizard in XP sorted the network out. (Software firewalls tend to give you a little greif though)
I now have a router and it is more workable (not to mention the hardware firewall function of the router). I too recommend getting a router, but if cost is a big issue (routers are quite cheap now anyway) go with a $5 crossover cable and see if it works for you.

Peace