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Alain,
I agree. Laplink is an expensive solution for simply transferring between
parallel ports. Perhaps I glossed over the objective in the letter. Yes,
don't pay $110 (Egghead) for something the OS will do (if you can get to
work!). However, Laplink has several advantages that can be extremely
useful.
What I was assuming is that both PC's would have modems and there would be
two telephone lines. Then you could do a modem-modem file transfer that's
quite slick though file xfer rate is relatively slow.
My opinion of Networking for Dummies is not good. I found it shallow in
content and not directly applicable for setting up a network on Win95 (ie
protocols, etc.). I have a ton of software experience in a variety of high
and low level languages yet with this experience I couldn't find the answer
to simply configure a 2 machine Win95 to NT network. I had to go to a
consultant. The book collects dust on my shelf. I'm going to sell it back
to Powell's Bookstore.
You obviously have a lot of experience in this field, 5+ years if I'm
remembering correctly. Of course, it's going to seem like child's play to
you. But for someone who doesn't want to dilly dally with their computer,
possibly break or short something, or just plain waste their time when
someone else could do it for them, they should call a professional.
I mean, afterall, if you trade on more than one PC, odds are you've got the
money to bring in an $80/hr consultant for 1-2 hours. Go sip pina colladas
whlie someone else does the grunt work. That's why you trade!
Even "owning your configuration" means rolling up your sleeves for weekend,
perhaps longer. Again, even with all the PC experience I have it took me
four days @ 5-6 hours a day to finally get NT installed correctly on my
machine the first time around. The second time, I got it done in 4 hours.
Lucky me!
The point is, no matter how experienced you are, managing your own PC takes
a great deal of time (oh, how I long for a Mac). If you to want to use
your time that way, then more power to you. I'd rather spend that time
looking at charts or taking a stroll on the beach. I learned early on that
it's extremely easy to become a slave to your PC. I have to work hard not
to.
About the tape drive, I used to have one then I went to a Jaz. They're
more portable and easier to manage for me.
PS: What's IMHO?
Thanks,
Brian
-----Original Message-----
From: Alain Jossart [SMTP:Alain.Jossart@xxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, March 19, 1998 9:14 PM
To: omega-list@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: Data Transfer
At Tue, 17 Mar 1998 08:38:24 -0800, Brian Massey <bnm03@xxxxxxx> wrote:
>Well Robyn (and David) it turns out that Laplink is still hanging in
there.
> I consider one of the best remote control programs out there. I use it
to
>transfer small files between my machines and to watch markets on my PC
when
>I'm travelling.
Brian,
IMHO Laplink for Windows 95 is a quite expensive software solution
for transferring files through parallel ports. What about using
the Windows 95 functionality directly (in fact, I'm not sure if
direct cable connect is delivered with the OS CD or the Plus!
package) ?
<>
>My preferred method, and the one I'm using now, is to
>network PC's together. Buy a couple network cards, T connectors and Coax
>cable and for about $150 (less than 1/2 the cost of a Jaz drive) you can
>transfer files between machines as though each machine existed inside the
>other.
I just can agree on that.
Windows 95 has all software built-in for Ethernet networking.
PCI NIC start at 25$. For a simple coax 'network' of two computers
(10m cable), the total hardware cost might as low as 70$. That's not
what I paid for 5 years ago BTW, calculations are based on data from
a very recent price sheet instead.
Transferring a 25 MB file does take around 1 minute 15".
Tape streamer PC Backups achieve a 14-16 MB/min (uncompressed).
>The only draw back to this is that it can get a bit technical to
>set up. If you're not computer literate I would recommend hiring someone
>to set it up and get it operational for you. Trust me, you'll be glad you
>did!
Obviously doing it yourself does require that you read some computer
literature, altough not more than a "Networking for dummies"
anticipatively in most cases.
I went this way in 1993 and 'm really glad owning my
configuration (ie not being dependant on external resources
to add station/printer or solve basic problems).
Sure this is not to be recommanded to people using complex
configurations or bound by restrictive warranty terms.
Br. Alain.
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