Do you need 2 network cards?

cubs23 · July 1, 2003 3:04PM

I was trying to LAN a pc and mac together to play quake III arena with a friend. I thought we did everything right to make this work. Upon asking another PC friend, he said the pc needed 2 network cards or a router in order for it to LAN with the mac. Is this so? If not, could someone please explain how to LAN the two computers together, b/c, I have found nothing.

ast3r3x · July 1, 2003 3:24PM

Quote:

Originally posted by cubs23

I was trying to LAN a pc and mac together to play quake III arena with a friend. I thought we did everything right to make this work. Upon asking another PC friend, he said the pc needed 2 network cards or a router in order for it to LAN with the mac. Is this so? If not, could someone please explain how to LAN the two computers together, b/c, I have found nothing.

if u dont have a hub (or i guess router) u'll need crossover cable (special ethernet cable)

then set it up like you normally would...or did and it should work unless yoru setting it up wrong (which i doubt for ur benefit

)

zo · July 1, 2003 4:03PM

if you want to connect a PC directly to a MAC with ethernet, you need a crossover cable. Ask for one at a computer store. They cost marginally more than a normal CAT5 enet cable.

If you have a recent Mac, you may not even need a cross over cable because they have AutoSensing enet ports that allow you to use normal enet cables to connect directly to another computer.

Otherwise, the cheapest thing to do is get a hub. A 4 port hub will set you back a 10-20dollars I'd think.

cubs23 · July 1, 2003 4:38PM

We did use a hub... and it didn't work, we also tried making a direct connection with the ethernet cable, which failed as well. (probably due b/c it wasn't a crossover ethernet cable. I think the pc was being setup wrong. I am going to try it out tonight. If it works, I will post what we did, (in case anyone else is having problems)

gizzmonic · July 2, 2003 11:04AM

You definitely don't need 2 network cards to connect the Mac to the PC. However, if you're going to connect the two, you'll need a crossover cable or hub (as others have pointed out).

Also you will need to configure TCP/IP (the internet protocol that lets the Mac talk to the PC. Set each IP address manually. If you're in the same room, set the PC to an IP address of 192.168.0.2 and the Mac 192.168.0.3. Set the subnet mask to 255.255.255.0

note that the internet will probably not work when you have chosen these settings, so you will have to change them back when you're done playing. Write down your old settings before you change them (normally it should be "using DHCP" on the Mac and "Obtain IP Address automatically" on the Windows machine.

cubs23 · July 6, 2003 11:56PM

Thanks, Gizzmonic, that is how we had to solve the problem, by manually entering ip addresses. I forgot to reply sooner b/c I was so excited it worked!

Do you need 2 network cards?

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