Originally Posted by TJQuill
What I want to do is use a crossover CAT5 cable between two devices and share the internet connection on the first with the second. Two different scenarios, in both instances I got messages indicating that there were problems with the assigned IP address.
Scenario 1: I have two laptops, both of which are folding madly away for the Flyertalk Folding at Home team (curing cancer, etc.. see my sig line for details). Neither are on a network, but one is hooked up to a phone line. I plan to set it to autodial on a schedule, and I want the other to piggyback and upload completed work when it does. Any reason why those two can't be linked with the crossover and then have the dialup work?
Thanks, TJ
You cannot use a crossover cable to use two computers on one internet connection. A crossover ethernet cable can be used to connect two isolated computers together to form a 2 computer LAN (eg, copy files, etc..).
In order to get 2 computers on a network, you'll need to get a hub or preferably a router to create a network.
In your case, it sounds like you want two computers to be able to make a dial-up connection. The most straightforward way to do this is to independently connect each computer to the phone line or to use separate phone lines -- one for each laptop.