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At 00:22 21/03/98 -0800, Brian Massey wrote:
>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.
Brian,
I'm switching to private mail since it seems running out of list topic.
Right. Modem-modem was not the case. Even then, Windows 95 does
propose a remote access functionality, honestly I just don't how
it compares to Laplink.
>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 was and am definitely not an expert in the PC or networking areas.
We (the family) had use of several PC's already at that time (1993).
Networking appeared an obvious and economical response to several
problems.
We made a choice in context : learning the basics required to install,
support, troubleshoot, extend the configuration.
>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!
'Time is money' can lead you to different options.
- A technical independance + partial redundancy and some spare
parts (+ strict backup procedures) is my option.
- Others will prefer to pay consultants as you do.
- Some will even sign $$$ support contracts warranting repair within
n hours if their trading for a very good living cannot afford n+1.
>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!
NT will now sound yet another horrible name in town, when it is
not requiring any deep expertise to be configured.
All in all, the most important question is to decide if knowing
a few concepts and procedures is to be considered as deeping into
technical matters that will possibly require nights when not
week-ends to achieve some confort or confidence.
Sleeves for weekend ? Doing what ? Reading semiconductor theory ?
microprocessor design ? bus signals ?
>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.
I have a dog asking 2 hours of my time every day. The wife and I are
used to walk 60-90 km on the weekends, the boy is adding tennis and
bike competition.
Sorry, there is nobody in house who has the horrible hobby of fighting
with PC's.
Don't ask me why networking a 5th PC didn't require more than one
hour, or how a boy who doesn't know much about computers can however
add RAM memory and a 3dfx card in less than 1 hour. That's just working
that way, sorry for the Mac and PlayStation amateurs ;-)
>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.
It was about backups. I'm just using backups to shorten 2nd system rebuild
time in case of crash/accidental destructions. Portability does not
matter at all, storage speed is not very important. Jazz drives/media
are not competitive in this context.
I found a lot cheaper and universal than Jazz to port between PC's :
the CD-Rom.
>PS: What's IMHO?
All this is just 'In My Humble Opinion'.
Br. Alain.
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