eganders said:
Kurt,
Thanks for replying. I think (or hope) that all you say is true.
Everything I have read says that I sould not have to worry about the
basic items you mention and that these are in place. However, I think
I need to step back a bit and just find out if the 2 computers can even
see each other on the network. I think I have the higher level items
configured properly. I don't think I have the basic configured
properly. I need to try to ping the Mac and the PC from the Mac. I
need to understand the way to address each of them on the network. I
need to find where the computer IP address that is used on the network
is stored for each. I need to understand how you identify them to each
other. Do I use the IP address or the name (I assume MSHOME/Officepc
for the network name for the PC name and MSHOME/ericsmac for the Mac
name. Representing the network and each computer name I have given
them). How do I ping the PC from the Mac? I am going to go back and
review each of these. Any basic info on this would be appreciated.
Basics. Obviously you need a switch or hub. And a network card and a
cable connecting each computer to the switch or hub. Most times, if this
is a home setup, your Internet broadband router will also serve as the
switch if it has multiple LAN ports. Most broadband routers hand out IP
addresses by default. So you should just set both machines to obtain
their IP addresses manually. To find out what IP address you got on the
Windows box, open a cmd window and type "ipconfig". Most likely you
would get 192.168.something.something. If you get 169.254.x.x, you
didn't get an IP address. Look for connection problems. If you DID get
an IP address, ipconfig should also show you your default gateway
address. To test connectivity to the default gateway, type ping followed
by the default gateway address obtained from ipconfig. For example,
ping 192.168.0.1
In linux, the command is ifconfig to display the ip address settings.
I'm not sure if that also works with a Mac. But you should be able to
open a console and type ping as you did on the windows computer and get
a reply from the router. Also, both computers should be able to contact
the Internet.
If you don't have an Internet router, you can assign ip addresses
manually. You can use 192.168.0.100 and 192.168.0.101 for each computer.
Both with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 If you don't have a router,
just leave the default gateway and DNS settings blank.
Whether you get your settings from the router or assign them by hand, if
you disable the firewalls on each computer, you should be able to ping
the other's IP address. You won't be able to ping by name from the Mac,
although if Samba is running and configured to announce, you may be able
to ping by name from the XP box.
Once you can ping, you should be able to use the gui tool to connect to
the shared printer on the XP box from the Mac. You'll need to know the
ip address and share name, and probably have to enter a username and
password if you are using XP Pro. Then you'll select a printer driver
from the list. Hopefully you'll find one. Once that is done, you should
be able to print.
Good luck!
....kurt
