I was interested in connecting my laptop to my desktop through a crossover cable. My desktop currently has 2 nic cards installed. The motherboard integraded one, and the us-robotics one I installed myself. I currently have the integrated card disabled in my bios. My question is.. can i connect my laptop to one nic card in my desktop with the crossover cable and connect the second nic card to my internet connection? I dont expect the internet connection to be shared between the laptop and desktop. I just want to be able to share files between my laptop and desktop, and get on the internet with my desktop.
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can i run two nic cards in the same computer?
- Thread starter atomic3
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freecableguy
Gawd
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or you can bridge 2 or more connections if you connect each card to a router/hub/switch....this way you can have # of NIC cards x bandwidth = final BW (ie. 2 NICs @ 100Mbps = 200Mbps).
tim_m
i'm so nice
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this at best seems like multiple processors. no single file transfer/program (usually, disregarding programs written for parallel processing) can take advantage of all the bandwidth/multiple processors but it allows for more transfers/programs that go at a higher speed/can use more cpu power.
in response to Glow, avoid using the usb port on cable modems, just hook it up to the router directly. there's a thread called usb vs cat5 somewhere, look for it.
/edit here's the thread http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=707883
freecableguy
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i'm not sure you understand what bridging connection does, tim. the connection is done on an OS level....programs have no idea how the data is transfered just that it's sent and received at some rate. bridging connection WILL increase throughput...
That's not a bridge. That's a trunked, or bonded connection.
And it won't work without trunking software (which Windows does not have built-in), because each interface must have a unique IP (okay, technically, they don't, but they DO have distinct MAC addresses, and the next hop DOES very much care about which packet came from/goes to which MAC, even if the software doesn't).
And, if you spoof both the IP and the MAC, then you completely hose the TCP sequencing in the TCP/IP stack. Hence the need for specialized trunking software.
A "bridge" is a layer 1 transparent connection between two or more networks (networks, not network interfaces), and it simply facilitates transit to and from each network...it does not transparently combine all bridged connections into one virtual device.
resident_freq
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Some server level NIC manufacturers make custom software and drivers for trunking/load balancing/failover (Intel, 3Com, Phobos) but a generic piece of software for this is NIC Express but I never tried it. And Skritch is right about a bridge (damn, did I just say skritch is right about something? 
). The 'bridge' in XP just makes a 2 (or 3 or 4 or however many NICs you throw in it) pass through connection on your computer. Its handy if you're out of switch ports but have a couple extra NICs, just throw them in the computer, bridge, and you have more connections to the network, but don't confuse this with ICS, since it doesn't do NAT or have a DHCP server built in.
). The 'bridge' in XP just makes a 2 (or 3 or 4 or however many NICs you throw in it) pass through connection on your computer. Its handy if you're out of switch ports but have a couple extra NICs, just throw them in the computer, bridge, and you have more connections to the network, but don't confuse this with ICS, since it doesn't do NAT or have a DHCP server built in.