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Networking Using Wireless
If you choose to connect your laptops with wireless cards,
there are 2 protocols of wireless cards that are popular today. They must
be cards specifically for laptops, called PCMCIA cards. They are
commonly known as Wireless b 802.11b) or Wireless G (802.11g),
Which you choose is strictly up to you. For our purposes, Wireless
b is sufficient however you may have specific situations that would dictate
the need for 802.11g. The main difference in the 2 standards is speed.
Wireless b connects at 11 Mb/s and Wireless g connects at 54 Mb/s.
If you would like more information on the differences in wireless standards,
take a look at this site. http://www.linksys.com/Products/wirelessstandards.asp
Once you purchase your wireless card, it must be installed
according to the manufacturer’s instructions and according to your operating
system. Some brands of wireless cards also include utility programs
that can be installed with it. That utility may or may not be necessary,
depending on the card. My instructions are going to be on how to
configure Windows XP only since the utilities are going to vary by brand,
and that some brands don’t even have the utilities.
I. Configuring Network Connection
- Once your wireless card is installed, right click
on “My Network Places” and select Properties.
Right click on “Wireless network connection” and select
properties.
Highlight “Internet Protocol” and click on “Properties.
Each computer must have a unique IP (Internet
Protocol) address to be identified properly. There are many different
number conventions to use. The one I use, as it’s easy to remember
is give one computer the IP address of 192.168.0.1; the 2nd computer
would be numbered 192.168.0.2; the 3rd – 192.168.0.3…etc. You
enter the correct IP address in the dialog box open. It’s important
to use this range of IP addresses or another “non-pingable” address.
Non-Ping-able addresses are used for direct connections and are not available
to be used on the internet.
- select “Use the following IP address”
enter the designated address for that computer in
the IP address box that becomes available. After you enter the last
set of numbers in the box and hit tab, the next box will be automatically
filled in.
Click OK
Click on “Wireless Networks” tab
Click “Advanced”
Select “Computer to Computer (ad hoc) networks only”
Hit “Close”
Click on “Advanced” Tab. If the box marked “Protect
My Computer…” under Internet Firewall Section is checked, uncheck it.
Click OK. You’ll probably have to reboot your
computer.
II. The computers must be configured to the same
workgroup. The location of where the settings are changed vary slightly
by operating system, but Windows XP and Windows 2000 are very similar.
- Right Click “My Computer” – Select “Properties”.
Click the tab marked “Computer Name”
Click box marked “Change”
In the lower area of this dialog where it says “Member
of..” select Workgroup and make sure all computers are in the same
workgroup. It doesn’t matter what you name your workgroup, as long
as they are all identical. Also make sure that every computer is
named something unique here. By default they usually are, but it’s
a good idea to check.
Press Ok and then Ok on the system properties box.
You’ll more than likely have to reboot your computer after these settings
are changed.
When both computers are set up, boot them up. Windows
usually reports “seeing” the other computer connection in the task bar.
Once the connection is made, start up C-Print. You then click on
the Server 1 icon (“Big Computer” or the first icon) on one computer and
Server 2 icon (“Little Computer” or the 2nd icon). You should see
the other computer in the connection box. In the event it doesn’t
work, you may have to select your network card in C-Print options.
To do this…
- Click on “Tools” and “Options”
Click on “Server” tab.
Make sure your network card is selected in the drop
down box towards the top of that page. If it says “MS Loopback”,
then use the dropdown box to change it to your networking card. Ok
out of that and you should be fine.
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