I want to know if computer-to computer communication is possible to do
with a firewire (1394) connection. I have a Belkin firewire/usb 2.0
card in my desktop which is working great. My laptop is a Sony Vaio,
and i was thinking of upgrading the usb port to 2.0 for fast file
transfer to and from the desktop, but then I thought that if i could
do this with the firewire port (ilink), i could save the cost and
trouble of installing a usb 2.0 port into the laptop. So the question
is: can i connect my desktop and laptop with a firewire cable? If so,
does it require special software, or will it just form a network of 2
when i connect the cable? Both computers are running Windows ME.

You need a wire like this one:
http://www.casecooler.com/3fti13fir6pi.html

From the following page:
http://www.homenethelp.com/web/review/Firewire-inhome-networks.asp

"Windows ME has native support for Firewire networking. When a
firewire card is installed in a computer running Windows ME, a virtual
‘network adapter’ is installed in Network Properties. This virtual
adapter can be configured with a specific IP address or it will create
its own IP schema for the Firewire network automatically."

This means it will be treated as part of your regular Ethernet home
network, if any; you will be able to access the files on each computer
through standard Windows File-Sharing.

If you want to use it with a Windows computer other than one running
Windows ME or XP, you need a program like this one:
http://www.unibrain.com/evaluations/firenet.htm

You may want to consider upgrading to Windows XP if you do a lot of
file transferring, as regardless of what type of connection you are
using you will get much better speeds. See the following page for
details (the results are for 2000 with Unibrain's FireNet but an even
more significant increase should apply for Windows XP):
http://www.homenethelp.com/web/review/Firewire-inhome-networks.asp


Thanks for choosing Google Answers!


bookface-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by boomering-ga on 01 Jan 2003 20:49 PST

Hey Bookface,

You gave me a link and said i need a cable like that one. Well that is
a 6 pin firewire cable, and i'm set up for 4 pin. Is there a reason
why it has to be 6 pin?

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Clarification of Answer by bookface-ga on 01 Jan 2003 21:17 PST

No, and I'm sorry I wasn't more clear, as I just brashly assumed it
would be a six-pin.

http://www.cablemax.com/cablemax/show-item.cfm?id=323819&ca=157&catlink=firewire-products.cfm

That cable should be suitable for your needs, though you don't
necessarily need to buy from them, and I haven't done any research
into who has the best price (though that seems like a pretty good
one.)