Aged Cyber Aunt

How to: LINK TWO PCS using Direct Cable Connect for Windows 95, 98, ME

'Direct Cable Connect' is provided with Windows 95, 98 and ME. It is a very useful way of connecting 2 computers for 3 reasons.
1. Easy to transfer files between PCs
2. You can use the resources such as a CD-Rom drive on one to install programs on another, if it does not have one, or can't read the CD's
3. Free.

Very little information is provided in the documentation, or in any of the books I have seen. I eventually found out how to get it going through newsgroups and a lot of messing about.

There are a number of steps to be carried out.

Cables

First of all install a suitable crossover serial or parallel cable. I prefer parallel cables as transfers are faster. They are also known as 'Laplink' cables, after the well known program. Details of cable pinouts are given at the end of this page.

Windows Program Component - Direct Cable Connect

This is a part of Windows that by default is not installed. Check by looking under Start /Programs /Accessories (Windows 95) or under Start /Programs /Accessories /Communications (Windows 98) to see if it is listed. If not install by running Start /Settings /Control Panel /Add-Remove Programs  and then Windows Setup, then Communications. Examine the details for Communications and ensure that Direct Cable Connect is ticked. It will then be installed when you click OK. This process must be carried out on both machines.

Network Protocols

In the Control Panel there is an icon 'Network'. Click on this to bring up a list of installed network components. For Direct Cable Connect it must include 'Client for Microsoft Networks' - if it is not there it can be installed by clicking on 'Add' and following instructions.

The program also needs protocols - either NetBEUI (advised by Microsoft) or IPX/SPX protocols (advised by people on newsgroups - I have both!) While you are about it, make sure TCP/IP is also installed as you will need it for connecting to the Internet.  On the same screen click the properties tab for NetBEUI and see that the 'Client for Microsoft Networks' box is checked and 'File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks' also.

In the middle of the Control Panel Network screen there is a message 'Primary Network Logon' - under which should show 'Client for Microsoft Networks'

On the same Control Panel Screen there is a button labelled 'File and printer sharing', click on this to reach another screen with check boxes. Click on 'I Want To Be Able To Give Others Access To My Files', the other one about sharing printers I leave blank.

Under Control Panel /Network there is a tab 'Identification'. Fill in the 'Computer name', which must be unique. Fill in the 'Workgroup' which must be the same on both machines. 'Computer Description' is not necessary.

The Above processes need to be carried out on both machines, this gets the network software set up.

Allow disk / file sharing

Now  the machine has to be set up to allow some or all of the disks / directories to be 'shared'. Go to 'My Computer' and open with left click. Right click on drive to be shared and select  'Properties', then click the tab 'Sharing'.

By default the 'Not shared' box is ticked - move the tick to 'Shared as' and enter a name for the drive to be shared. I put something like 'C-Panasonic' where I want to share the C drive on the Panasonic portable. (I put the name that way round to distinguish it from the Volume label for the same drive which is Panasonic-C). In the next section I tick 'full' because then you can share in both directions, and I don't bother with a password.

Start Direct Cable Connect

Go to Start /Programs /Accessories (Windows 95) or Start /Programs /Accessories /Communications (Windows 98) and click Direct Cable Connect on each computer. A screen will come up asking whether the machine is to be 'Host' or 'Guest'. The 'Host' is the one with the shared resources and the 'Guest' is the one used to access them. To put it more simply the 'Guest' is the one whose keyboard you will be using to drive the sharing process.

Having selected 'Host' or 'Guest' on each, click on 'Listen' for the 'Host' and 'Connect' on the 'Guest'  After a while a screen will come up on the 'Guest' asking for the name of the 'Host'. For the Panasonic I enter 'Panasonic'. Following this another screen comes up called 'Panasonic' and within it is a folder 'C-Panasonic'. You can then use it like any other folder.

To have reached this point is an achievement in itself! You may need to restart Windows to activate all the new settings.

What can I do with it now

Map Network Drive

Although you have reached the point where a separate box is now available, there is another step which can make Direct Cable Connect even more useful - Map Network Drive.

Open Windows Explore, by right clicking on the Start button. Click on 'Network Neighborhood' and you should see both computers listed, click and unclick it several times. When it is listed you will see the Shared drive listed on the right, just as it did when Direct Cable Connect first connected.

With the shared drive highlighted go to 'Tools' in the Menu Bar, and click 'Map Network Drive'. The screen then shows a default letter for the drive about to networked, usually the next available letter on the 'Guest'. In the box marked path you enter the name of the machine and the shared name of the drive, ie  '\\Panasonic\C-Panasonic'. In case you need to reconnect another time it remembers the name, so you don't have to remember the idiosyncratic way of entering it! After another wait, the shared drive will appear at the end of your list of drives. To disconnect the network drive click 'Disconnect Network Drive' under Tools as above.

File sharing using Ztree

Computer users who grew up on DOS are likely to be familiar with Xtree Gold, the wonderful file manager which was half buried by being bought by Central Point, makers of PC Tools, which was not as good a file manager but had a number of excellent utilities. Xtree was finally destroyed by being ignored when it was taken over by Symantec, who no longer even support it. However it remains a most excellent file mover, viewer, finder etc for FAT16 based machines. It will not work under FAT32, and it does not understand long file names.

However there is a clone called Ztree, designed by Kim Henkel, costing $45AUD and payable in Australia. Their web site is at www.ztree.com and the designer Kim Henkel is at www.gate.net/~khenkel/. An evaluation copy can be downloaded and registration can be done by fax or email

There is an Xtree Gold clone, called Ztree, which is excellent for Windows 95 / 98, because it can cope with long file names. Although I try to keep all documents that I create in the old 8.3 format some programs insist on having longer ones, or files one downloads from the internet. They have a web site at www.ztree.com and the designer Kim Henkel is at http://www.gate.net/~khenkel/. The cost is now $45.00AUD and I paid by cheque to an address in Victoria.

Start Ztree in the usual way, and when you go to log a different disk drive, the networked one is now available (It is not available using Ztree when the drive is not networked).

File sharing using Laplink for Windows

Laplink is a most excellent program for transferring files, but it does not allow the user to view all the files in a given directory and the directories beneath it, unlike Ztree . It works well under FAT16 and FAT32. However I did have a problem when I installed it on a FAT32 machine where it @#$%^& the graphics and I had a job getting them back. I think it was something to do with the graphics card not the FAT32 as it is working fine on another FAT32 machine. (However Windows 98 has an excellent recovery system and I learnt a lot, that is perhaps for another article) A full version of Laplink for Windows has during the last year been available on some magazine disks, basically as a 'taster' for the later version 'Laplink Professional' which costs in the region of $169USD!

Hence the urgency and importance of being able to use Direct Cable Connect.

This article is based on my own experience, an article on the Microsoft site at:
http://www.microsoft.com/insider/windows98/articles/netdir.htm, which is copyright of Ziff Davis, and an article on Mapping Network Drives on http://www.liberty.edu/resources/library/dmc/MapNetwork/index.htm.
I should also thank all those whose helpful advice I found in newsgroups on the Internet.

Too many parallel cables

Some years ago the majority of appliances we had attached to the PC were serial, we had modem, printer and plotter, and occasionally a digitizing board. We solved the problem by having a 4 way switch on the serial line coming from the PC.

Now the tables are reversed. Most printers are parallel again, and the fastest way to connect two PCs is with parallel cable. The advent of good draughting software obviated the necessity of using a digitizing board, and colour ink jet printers are faster than a plotter. Therefore we still use a parallel switch on the cable from the PC. When you are buying such a switch it is wise to check that all wires are connected inside. You may not need them most of the time, but when you do, and they are missing it's a disaster.

This is presumably why USB has been designed, which can daisy chain peripherals.

Crossover Cables

In order to keep the information together here is the cabling information:

Parallel Cables

Parallel cable for Xtlink and Interlink, using 25 pin connectors: 2-15, 3-13, 4-12, 5-10, 6-11, 11-6, 10-5, 12-4, 13-3, 15-2.  Also pin 25-25 (ground-ground), this was omitted from the previous article
Parallel cable for Laplink: the same as above with 14-14, 16-16, 17-17.

Serial cables:

25 pin - 25 pin: 7-7 (Ground) 2-3 (Transmit-Receive), 4-5 (RTS-CTS), 6-20 (DSR-DTR), 3-2 (Receive-Transmit), 5-4 (CTS-RTS), 20-6 (DTR-DSR). In addition my Laplink cable has 8-8 and 1-1.

9 pin - 9 pin: 5-5 (Ground), 3-2 (Transmit-Receive), 7-8 (RTS-CTS), 6-4 (DSR-DTR), 2-3 (Receive-Transmit), 8-7 (CTS-RTS), 4-6 (DTR-DSR)

9 pin - 25 pin: 5-7 (Ground), 3-3 (Transmit-Receive), 7-5 (RTS-CTS), 6-20 (DSR-DTR), 2-2 (Receive-Transmit), 8-4 (CTS-RTS), 4-6 (DTR-DSR)

To cover all combinations you can make or buy a serial crossover cable which has a 25 pin and a 9 pin connector at each end!

Updated 15 January 2004