Connecting my 2 computers

Hi,

I hope I don't sound too dumb. I have a 4 year old
Gateway with Windows 98 and a 1 year old HP with Windows
XP. I want to connect them, side by side, so that I can
use the same printer and internet. I live in a rural area
and we only have dial-up access to the Internet. We are
with TDS net. Can anyone tell me what I need to do this.
I would really appreciate your help.

Kate

Assuming both computers already have Ethernet cards (i.e.
network cards), the simpler and cheaper way is to get an
ethernet *cross-over* cable and wire both computers
together.

If the computers are far apart (or one is a laptop you
want to carry around), you may considering buying a
router with wireless (wifi) support, and an additional
wifi card. You'll disable the broadband support on the
system, and just use it to connect (wirelessly) both
computers.

Once they are connected, you can exchange files between
them, share the same printer, and share the Internet
dialup access.

Internet access sharing is done on the XP. You turn on
Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) on the XP, and
configure both computers. The XP system will be the
dialing computer to your ISP the same way it works now,
but the 98 will share the connection through the network
(from the ISP perspective you are only dialing once). You
can search Windows help on the XP for ICS for detailed
information.

>-----Original Message-----
>Hi,
>
>I hope I don't sound too dumb. I have a 4 year old
>Gateway with Windows 98 and a 1 year old HP with Windows
>XP. I want to connect them, side by side, so that I can
>use the same printer and internet. I live in a rural
area
>and we only have dial-up access to the Internet. We are
>with TDS net. Can anyone tell me what I need to do
this.
>I would really appreciate your help.
>
>Kate
>.
>