To baylok747

[Vic C.]

Thanks Vic. Here's the setup:

Cable modem into Linksys Wireless Router
Laptop (w/wireless PCMCIA card) running Windows2000
Desktop (w/wireless PCI card) running Windows XP Home

Both PCs belong to the same workgroup, and the printer is attached to the desktop box via USB cable.

I have turned sharing on for a few folders on both boxes, and have also set the printer up for sharing. When I am at the desktop box, and click on the network neighborhood icon, I can "see" my laptop, but I cannot access anything. When I do the same from my laptop, I cannot even see the desktop box. The laptop does not see the printer either.

There are no username/passwords on the desktop machine, for I am the only one using it. The laptop is also my work PC, and I have a username/password that must be supplied when I want to use it. I was wondering whether that had something to do with it, but did not have a lot of time to investigate.

As for the TiVO/DVD box, I was following an article that I read on the web. It is a few months old, and was wondering whether there are some better components out there. It has been at least 5 years since I built my last PC, so I have not been following chipsets and new "advancements" too closely. So far, the grocery list is:

Antec Sonata case (380 Watt power supply, and supposedly very quiet)
Intel Pentium 4 2.8GHz, 800MHz FSB
Intel 865PERL motherboard (it was the one the article recommended)
ATI All-inWonder Radeon 9800 video card
Maxstor 250 GB SATA HD spinning at 7200 RPM
SoundBlaster Audigy Platinum Pro sound card

Still looking into DVD burners. I was wondering about the motherboard, video card, sound card, and memory. I want to put in a minimum of 1Gb of RAM, but am getting a little lost in the acronyms. When the article was written, the Radeon 9800 had just hit the market, and the GeForce 5600 Ultra cards were not out yet. Those cards are now available, and I noticed that the cards running GeForce chips had more memory than the ATI ones (256Mb as opposed to 128Mb).

Any networking advice and equipment advice would be helpful!

Sorry, i did not see your response until today! (bad me- : )

Ok, to access another PC's resources, (drives, printers, wtc.) you must first set up sharing (which I see you have already done) AND make yourself a user on the host PC. Look for 'users and passwords' in Control Panel. Workstations like 2000 Pro, XP Home and Pro are responsibe for their own security.

You seem to know more than I do about TiVo, so I can't help you here. :-? Your 'grocery' list looks good to me! If you can afford a 256 MB AGP card, go for it! Otherwise, you are not compromising anything using a 128 MB card. I still prefer ATI over Nvidia. Intel MB's will have no problem at all using 1GB of mem. Use DDR memory. Intel supperts it.

DVD...my recommendation is to get one that supports both + and - DVD-R and RW formats. This way you can't lose. : Stay away from DVD-RAM. They are incompatable with Home DVD players. Sony make a good one, that's what I use. I don't believe they come in a SATA interface, so you will have to stick with EIDE.

If your Linksys router have a built-in firewall, take advantage of it. Otherwise, pick up a copy of Zone Alarm's Zone Alarm Pro. I like it a lot. It's easy to set up and manage. Has all the bells and whistles too. Also, get yourself a good Spyware detector program. Nothing worse that unwanted programs running in the background, doing who knows what with your files and sensitive data and information. I use PestPatrol.

Zone Alarm
PestPatrol

Saftey is no accident! :

Hope this all helps.

Vic

 

[baylok]

Thanks Vic.

I have put the media PC project on the back burner for a little while - no time to mess with things right now, and I am back on the road, so it is difficult to justifying spending more money on a toy that will get little to no use.

The router uses NAT technology, which someone explainged to me is the same as having a firewall. Wireless encryption (128 bit) is used, and I have a MAC access list with only 2 devices on it (coincidently, I have 2 PCs with wireless cards).

I had setup an account on my home PC which matched the account I was using on my laptop, and was not successful. After spending more time than I wanted, I started using email as an interim solution. Again, I have not had a lot of time to tinker lately. I recently "acquired" an old PC from my mom which I am planning to turn into an access box in the kitchen, so I may try to get the sharing to work when I set that one up.

I'm sure I'll have more questions...