Laplink Replacement?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Wayfarer
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Wayfarer

In days of yore I used to run a cable between two computers'
serial ports, crank up Laplink and transfer files to my heart's
content. Is there a freeware program to do this? Maybe with a
USB connection?

Win XP SP2

TIA

Neill
 
In days of yore I used to run a cable between two computers'
serial ports, crank up Laplink and transfer files to my heart's
content. Is there a freeware program to do this? Maybe with a
USB connection?

Win XP SP2
Click to expand...

This functionality is part of the Windows OS since Win95. It is
called 'direct cable connection'. Look here for setup instructions:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/814981

You need a so called Laplink-cable/adapter for parallel or seriell
connection, though. (Some pins are crossed.)

Likewise you would need a *crossover* USB cable for direct connection.
Be aware that they are somewhat expensive. Maybe you would even be
cheaper and better off with 2 Ethernet cards and a cross-over ethernet
cable.

Crossover USB cable are 'intelligent'. Most come with their own
software to connect 2 PC's. Else you'll use a kind of network setup.
For connection via Ethernet you also would setup a network instead
of using the 'direct cable connection' functionality. Other types of
connection (infrared for example) are also possible.

There are lots of resources on the web on this topic. Maybe you scan
through these tutorials:

http://www.wown.com/articles_tutorials/common/

From a quick glance they are comprehensive and straight forward.

BeAr
 
B. R. 'BeAr' Ederson said:
This functionality is part of the Windows OS since Win95. It is
called 'direct cable connection'.
Click to expand...

But DCC is such a bitch to set up compared to Laplink. :)
 
But DCC is such a bitch to set up compared to Laplink. :)
Click to expand...

No argument on this. ;-) I don't know if DM-Link works with WinXP, too.
It would be worth a try. Unfortunately it only supports *serial port*
communication. So the OP is a bit limited in his choices. But maybe it
is just what he searches. So here's a link for download:

http://www.bookcase.com/library/software/win9x.comms.undef.html

Unfortunately, Daniel Maroff doesn't seem to have a public homepage,
anymore...

BeAr
 
In days of yore I used to run a cable between two computers'
serial ports,
Click to expand...

In days of yore files used to be measured in bytes or kilobytes
:-)
With today's megabytes, a network connection is called for.
And it's free with almost any operating system.

Nowadays, more PC's come with a network interface pre-installed
than a serial interface. And for old PC's: a NIC is cheaper than
a decent serial or parallel cable :-)
 
Wayfarer said:
In days of yore I used to run a cable between two computers'
serial ports, crank up Laplink and transfer files to my heart's
content. Is there a freeware program to do this? Maybe with a
USB connection?

Win XP SP2

TIA

Neill

--
Wayfarer
Journeys: http://www.journeys.ws/

A closed mouth gathers no feet.
Click to expand...


Why not use a cross-over cable... very fast. No progs required. Worst case
you need a NIC. Though most computers are intergrated ones these days.
 
HI Wayfare wrote,
In days of yore I used to run a cable between two computers'
serial ports, crank up Laplink and transfer files to my heart's
content. Is there a freeware program to do this? Maybe with a
USB connection?
Click to expand...
In days of yore we used Norton Commander to do this.

Nowadays we use Total Commander 6.50!

You can download a free Trial Version here:
http://www.ghisler.com/index.htm

It works fine!

richard
 
Mouse said:
But DCC is such a bitch to set up compared to Laplink. :)
Click to expand...

If so, have a look at zip.com, for serial or parallell transfer,
formerly shareware - now free, see:
<http://short.stop.home.att.net/freesoft/communic.htm#othercomm>
<http://short.stop.home.att.net/vde/vde.htm#zip>
with screenshot
<http://short.stop.home.att.net/vde/zip_gif.htm>

"ZIP...can also be run under Windows 95/98. Under Windows
95/98...ZIP is aware of Windows ‘Long File Names’, and will
preserve them when LFNs are supported on both systems. ZIP shows
LFNs (when present) during file transfer, but otherwise accepts
and displays only 8.3-character DOS-style filenames."

Some DOS LFN-enabled filemanagers might offer serial/parallell
transfer mode as well, Connect might be one of them, explore if you
want: <http://short.stop.home.att.net/freesoft/os.htm#connect>
<http://www.orlov.wapil.com/connect/connecte.htm>

All the best,
Bjorn Simonsen
 
Bjorn Simonsen wrote in said:
If so, have a look at zip.com, for serial or parallell transfer,
formerly shareware - now free, see:
<http://short.stop.home.att.net/freesoft/communic.htm#othercomm>
<http://short.stop.home.att.net/vde/vde.htm#zip>
with screenshot
<http://short.stop.home.att.net/vde/zip_gif.htm>
Click to expand...

One could also try the old MS/PC-DOS Interlnk and Intersrv commandline
apps (parallell or serial cable only, no USB), see fx:
<http://www.pcxt-micro.com/dos-interlink.html>
d/l: <http://www.pcxt-micro.com/download/interlnk.zip>
or <http://www.infonewsindia.com/pinout/interlinkdatatransfer.htm>

All the best,
Bjorn Simonsen
 
If so, have a look at zip.com, for serial or parallell transfer,
formerly shareware - now free, see:
Click to expand...
[Snip]

One could also try the old MS/PC-DOS Interlnk and Intersrv commandline
apps (parallell or serial cable only, no USB), see fx:
Click to expand...
[Snip]

A little word of caution:
Everybody who wants to use these older programs should pack the programs
and data with an archiver capable of storing long file names before
transmission. Else the long file names will get lost with most DOS or
Win3.x based solutions.

BeAr
 
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