inexpensive home network for occasional use

I purchased a Female DB9 to Female DB9 Shielded RS-232C Cable 26-152B from Radio Shack thinking it was the correct cable to use with Direct Cable Connection and NetBEUI. However, I'm not sure if it is a straight or crossover cable and the clerk wasn't any more knowledgable than I was. I haven't tried to use it yet but could someone please tell me how to determine if it is the correct crossover cable. Thanks for any information you can offer.

June

 

It should say "Crossover" on the cable if it is in fact a crossover cable, you can always compare the ends to see if the colors line up the same at both ends. Look here to see what the colors should be.

 

I know absolutely nothing about cables and this is a bit difficult to explain. I don't know how to describe the ends but I will try. Both ends look identical and each end has a plug with a ***** type thing on each side to tighten. In between the ***** things is a raised blue area with nine holes in it. I do not see any other colors.

This is what is printed on the cable-AWM E101344 style 2464 VW-1 80C 300 V Space Shuttle-C CSA LL80671 AWM A/B 80C 300V FT1.

This does not sound like what you described. Perhaps they did not sell me the correct cable....

Thanks so much for the prompt reply.

June

 

I'm sorry. The ***** should be s c r e w.

 

I think Kevin was thinking of the usual UTP Cat3/5 network cable with the ends that look like a phone plug with delusions of grandeur.

I seem to remember that the cable you needed for your situation is called a "null modem" cable or some such. I know that has something to do with the wiring layout. Problem is, you can't eyeball the wiring pattern with those things like you can with the clear RJ-45 connectors.

But the Radio Shack folks may understant null modem cable. Maybe.

 

Sorry, I completely overlooked the DB9 part.

I think Newt's right about having it checked at Radio Shack, and null modem cable sounds right but I've never dealt with them before.

Does this go from serial port to serial port?

 

I'm a little bit stupid and not mechanically minded....I planned to get the cable first and then plug it in where ever it would fit! I'm probably mistaken but I thought a large plug with approximately 25 small holes was parallel and a small round plug was serial. I haven't a clue what the one I bought with 9 holes is. However, my tower has a place the plug would fit right beside where my printer is plugged. I will not have access to the second computer for a few weeks so I don't know if I could use this plug or not.

I had found "Cables That Are Compatible with Direct Cable Connection (Q142324)" which gave the following information:
"You can use the Direct Cable Connection tool to establish a direct serial or parallel cable connection between two computers. Windows supports serial null-modem standard (RS-232) cables and the following parallel cables for use with Direct Cable Connection:
Standard or basic 4-bit cables
Enhanced Capabilities Port (ECP) cables
Universal Cable Module (UCM) cables
Parallel cable connections are faster than serial cable connections. "

The first cable the clerk sold me had ends just like my printer cable but I returned that one and this cable is what the second clerk recommended when I told him what I hoped to accomplish. When I saw the cable was marked RS-232C I asked the clerk if the C meant "crossover" but our small town Radio Shack has teenage employees who just have very basic knowledge about computers and they are not much help unless you know exactly which item you need.

Thanks for the assistance.

June

 

June - you were mostly correct.

The female 25 pin thing on a PC is parallel and for printers and sucyh.

The small, round things are probably PS2 connections for mice,
keyboards, and the like. You should have 2.

The serial port is the male 9 pin thing. You may have one, two, or sometimes more.

 

Sounds like you have what you need, it's a serial port you'll be plugging it into, the 25 pin one is the parralel port.

The only thing you can do now is try it out, if it doesn't work let us know and I'm quite sure someone here will be able to help.

 

My pal that works at the Shack says P/N 26-152B is a straight-thru cable. But they do sell a null-modem adapter for about $6.

 

Never to old to learn.

Yesterday this forum taught me to be more careful with my language. Again I apologize. I did not intend to do anything I shouldn't.

Today I discovered I had purchased a straight-thru cable with a serial plug which cost $12.99! I will be sure to purchase an adapter before I attempt to use it. Hopefully I can figure out how to use Direct Cable Connection before then.

Thanks so much everyone for sharing your knowledge. All of you helpful folks are appreciated so much by lurkers like me. I have learned so much by reading this forum. It seems someone has an answer for almost any strange problem that is posted.

 

June - if you go to Google and search for direct cable connection you will find dozens of sites that give excellent directions for setting up DCC on Win9X systems (95/98/ME).

And if the "language" thing you mentioned has to do with parts of your words being bleeped ****, I think that has happened to all of us from time to time. And usually with innocent words like ***** (that was s c r e w without the spaces) when speaking of that type of fastner.

 

Not always. Older machines had and there are still some machines using both a 9 & a 25 pin Serial Port.

The serial ports are usally one type ( male ? ) and the parallel ( printer ) port is another ( female ? ).

But in any case a null modem cable or a straight thru serial cable and a null modem adapter is needed.

BillyBob

 

Ok, you have some good information in the replies so far, but the one thing everyone fails to tell you is this... Serial connections are SLOW! Take the cable back to RS and buy what's called a Laplink cable. This is a 25pin parallel D-sub cable which will connect to the printer port of both computers. This will transfer data much faster than serial, and cost of the cable should be similar. Note that a simple 25pin parallel extension cable (sold to run A/B switchboxes among other things) will NOT work... the Laplink cable has a number of wires crossed over! Good luck and good transfers!

 

Oh my!!!
The cable I previously returned to RS is listed on my receipt as a 10' Para. Cab. JG 3977 and was $12.95. Maybe this was the right one after all. I think I will just quietly keep this cable as RS would certainly think I was a complete idiot if I also returned this one! Surely it must be good for something. Maybe I can use it to fasten up the newspapers or perhaps use it as a dog leash. I MUST get the one I really need the next time. If I never get the Direct Cable Connection set up so it will work at least I've learned some stuff.

You folks have certainly gone the extra mile to help me and I appreciate ALL of the help.

June

 

Just a thought, but you didn't say why you were going to network the two machines. I use something called direct-linq. It is similar to windows explorer, except that you can drag and drop files between drives on two computers using a special usb cable. It only allows you to transfer files, but it is very fast and easy to use.

 

As I have a lot of free time I offered to do a clean install of the OS's on computers belonging to relatives. As I have a number of freebie installation files on my machine I thought this sounded like a simple way to install this stuff on their machines. I'll also need to download windows updates, IE, and updates for their programs. I also thought maybe I could transfer their personal files and settings for stuff like Quicken, OE, Address Books, Favorites etc. to my machine and then transfer them back after I got the OS installed. Since I haven't tried to do this I don't know if it would work or not.

I have never heard of direct-linq. As it is easy to use, perhaps that is what I need. My machine is five years old but I'm using an USB port for the mouse.

Thanks for the information.

June

 

Depending on the cable, you will get different data-transfer speeds:

---------------------------------
To use the Direct Cable Connection program you need a Serial Null Modem cable
(crossover cable) or a Bi-directional Parallel cable (LapLink cable) to connect
the two PC's together.

Direct Cable Connection:
Serial cable (1 bit connection)
- up to 10 KBytes /sec
Basic Parallel cable (4 bit, LapLink compatible cable)
- up to 60-80 KBytes /sec
Universal Fast Cables (with electronics in one end of the cable, from
Parallel Technologies)with your Parallel Port configured to ECP.
- up to 500+ KBytes /sec on ECP ports

Not all parallel cables will work. Older parallel cables are wired differently
and have different plugs. Use no older than IEEE-1284 DB-25 male to male cables.

---------------------------------
To connect two PCs to each other with USB you need a specialized USB peripheral known
as a USB bridge (sometimes called a USB to USB adapter).

Networking via USB cable:
USB cable and bridge or Net-Linq USB Connection Cable from Parallel Technologies.
(special cable with proper plugs and electronics)
- up to 500+ Kbytes /sec

serial cables have a maximum length of about 30 feet
parallel cables have a maximum length of about 6 feet
USB cables have a maximum length of about 16 feet

You lose your printer's parallel port if you use a parallel port connection. USB is faster
than both serial and parallel, but you must make sure you are using Windows 95B or
Windows 98 when using a USB network.

 

Welcome small potatoes! This sounded so simple when I decided I wanted to try to do this. Great information--I needed this info before I went shopping. With all the different possibilities of cables I definitely owe Radio Shack a public apology. Now I understand why they did not know what I wanted to purchase. It certainly wasn't their job to educate me. I will quietly discard the cable I purchased...it was not their fault.

The Net-Linq USB Cable sounds perfect. It would be used for Windows 98 and possibly XP.

The response to this thread has been great and truly appreciated.

June

 

Also welcome fridgitator and sjstover. As I have been lurking for several months it is nice to see the familiar names as well as all of the new ones.

June