cat5e laptop-to-laptop?

[James McKenzie]

Trevor Smith wrote:
> Can I take two computers (laptops both) and plug them together directly 
> from one nic to another with a "standard" ethernet cable? Or do I need a 
> crossover cable or something to do that? And if I have the correct 
> cable, will the two machines do some sort of peer-to-peer networking 
> more or less automagically or will it be difficult to set up? One runs 
> FC2, the other Mac OS X 10.3.7.
> 
You will need a crossover cable or a small four to eight port hub with a 
cable from one Linux laptop to the hub and another cable from the Mac to 
the hub.  You will need to configure networking on both the Linux box 
(system-network-config or System Preferences -> Network) for the 
Ethernet card to exist on a private network for the connection to the 
hub.  You will also need to setup the Mac for Network connection.
When I say a private network, you will need to use private IP space for 
the network.  Most small networks are setup on like the following:

Computer #1 (most likely your Linux laptop), IP address, 198.168.1.1, 
subnet mask 255.255.255.0 (or 198.168.1.1/24) with a gateway address of 
198.168.1.1.  Computer #2 (your Mac) would be setup with an IP address 
of 198.168.1.2, subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 with a gateway address of 
198.168.1.1  (I may have the first octet of the IP address incorrect, 
but you should have a general idea of what needs to happen.)

Good luck with your new network.

James McKenzie