home network and printers

[FrEaKmAn]

Hello

Maybe this question is too big and it has be answer millions of times, but what I want to is next:

I have one router - SmartCOM SVM104, nothing special - and I have 1 pc connected to it. Now I would like to connect another PC and maybe set up small home network. But are there any manuals if I can share hardware, I have 2 printers and I want to access them with both PC's. Is there a way, that I don't directly connect printers to PC's because if I want to use a printer connected to another PC, that PC needs to be working...

[freakinprince]

we are going to need some more information ..... answer the following

Have you connected the second PC to the router and everything ran fine?
Does the Printer have Network port avil with the model? (you can provide us the model and we can find out)



the whole idea is we want to see what you have and what works before we go ahead

here below is how i can get you going.


Once you have confirmed the Second PC is connected to the Router and can surf and everything....you should also comfirm if it can see the other computer in the Network Place properties

once that is comfirmed..... if the printer only have LPT1 connection then what i would do is connect each printer to one computer...install the needed drivers...and then share that printer..... go to the other computer open up the printer box and add printer...then instead of choosing local printer...choose network printer... then do what it ask you to do including putting your \\computername\printername and it should connect

that's the whole idea of how we can setup a small network at home with two or more pc, and printers if possible

cheers

(I HOPE I DIDN"T CONFUSE YOU HEHEH)

[FrEaKmAn]

I didn't connect second PC, I will do it during the weekend. Printers are Epson Stylus CX3200 and HP LaserJet 1018

[freakinprince]

alright well before we move on...lets make sure your second computer works and is able to see the other computer....we will wanna be able to troubleshoot quickly instead of doing everything at once and not know where to start


let us know if you need help as we are here pretty often...hehe (maybe i won't be here this weekend as i am working full 30 hrs in two days ...yikes)

[FrEaKmAn]

anyway thanks for help I will see what I can do on my own..

[z1p]

Hey freakman, I hope we haven't lost you.

The answer is you can do what you want, but you need to get a network print server. There's a whole bunch out there (See here for example. The big thing to watch for is whether or not your printers are compatible...

[FrEaKmAn]

as you showed this, I got another idea... I'm starting an audio selling website, yea something like itunes, and because budget is low I was thinking to set up home network where I could plug in 2 printers (1 is necessary) and maybe 1 or 2 external harddrives. Now maybe this could work, but it's also possible that somebody hacks in and steals 1tb of music... well upload speed is 1mbit, but still they could get some of it while I sleep. But again I can unplug HDs when I don't need them. I want to set up 2 PC and join them somehow...

I will check this network print server and see if I can get them in my country..

Update: I did find some hardware, only 2, and cheapest is 97€ (144$), while on newegg is only 69$

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833118005

but I'll see how it goes. Maybe I will even set up a home server for converting music and some playing around and I'll just plug everything into it...

[oracle128]

1TB of music? That's millions of dollars worth...if you've got that kind of money you don't really need to be worrying about network security, just pay for someone to do it for you.

[FrEaKmAn]

1TB of music yes, but I think I will have around 100k mp3's 256, so this means ~7mb per song = 700000GB.. and I get all of this for FREE of course I'm not allowed to use this for personal things, but ok...

I have a problem regarding setting home network, it seems some settings on my PC are messed up. I added a home connection:

- Set up home or small office...
- Other
- This computer connects directly

Then when I go under view workgroup computers I don't see anything. I did same on other PC and I see both PC's while I can't access the first one.. so if there is a tutorial for connection 2 pc and 1 router, let me know

ps: and I feel stupid because I don't know to set up simple task...

UPDATE: now when I click on view workgroup computers I get a warning that I don't have a permission to access network. Should I set up any special settings if I have password for my windows account?

[z1p]

What versions of windows are you using?

[FrEaKmAn]

an update, I have set up something, but sometimes is works and sometimes it doesn't.. I'm using XP Pro SP1 (I'm not upgrading to SP2)... I think I can crack it, I just need to play around a little bit..

quick question, I did set up a network and I created so called place emembase, now I can't access it. I did create it on another PC and used wizard to save settings and just installed them on my first PC, but does this means that main PC needs to be online?

[FrEaKmAn]

ok finally something is working

I still have 2 problems, actually questions
1. I still need to update my firewall with allowing certain ports because this was problem all along
2. If I put a harddrive in share (and I uncheck easy sharing in folder options), how do I set login. Because when I access HD with computername\HD$, I need to insert username and password. So do I need same accounts on both PC and both need to have passwords?

[z1p]

1) What firewall are you using?
2) Did you set up an account with a username and password on the machine that is sharing the HD? That should be enough.

and I'd recommend updating to SP2...

[FrEaKmAn]

ok firewall problem is fixed, now I just need to set up this accounts...