LAPTOP FORUM

I do not need to hook up AV stuff to my laptop, and I have found good
use of external CD / harddisk link to laptop via the 1394 link.

Are there other things I can do to get the laptop to be more flexible
like a desktop, using this firewire link? For example, can I somehow
connect a scanner (it needs a SCSI PCI card) to the laptop via some
generic docking station?

Thanks in advance for your useful comments.

David
15 July 2003

David L wrote in message
news:40ea64bd.0307141733.6d05aad1@posting.google.com...


You would need a Firewire Scanner. They do exist, but most are high-end.
Alternatively, use Firewire to network 2 computers together. It is up to 4
times faster than a 100Mbit link. A few webcams come in Firewire flavour,
but Firewire is overkill for that. The only other thing I can think of are
Zip drives, but they are a bit obsolete these days.

Can you describe how firewire can be used to network 2 computers
together?
Also, can this be done cheaply? It costs 30 dollars for a 6wire to
4wire firewire cable here down under. Maybe I can get these cheaply
over the net from a good supplier that use PayPal, but I have not
found it yet.

Thanks

David

David L wrote in message
news:40ea64bd.0307151809.4ec9c257@posting.google.com...

Go to your local computer fair/ebay. You will get cables for much less than
A$30. I pay about A$10-15 in the UK. A$35 will get you a long 5m cable in a
retail shop, here.

All you need is some cable. If you are running Windows with support for IEEE
1394, then Windows will see the Firewire card as a networking device. This
is deffo for ME and XP, dunno about Win2K. Right click on My Computer and
check under Device Manager for Networking Devices. Also check under Network
Connections in Control Panel. Just set things up as if you were connecting
two machines via their network ports. IIRC, FW has a range of about 15 feet,
so you will need a repeater hub for longer distances.