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Direct Cable Connections 295<br />

DCC is the perfect way to install CD-ROM–based software to older<br />

machines lacking such drives. You can install the DCC Host software<br />

on a notebook computer with a CD-ROM drive, install the<br />

DCC Guest software on a desktop computer, cable them together,<br />

<strong>and</strong> install the software. DCC is also the cheapest network around.<br />

I’ve also used DCC to run tape backups remotely. I set up the system<br />

I wanted to back up as the host <strong>and</strong> logged in to it as guest<br />

with the computer containing the tape backup program. After mapping<br />

the remote drive to a drive letter, I was able to back up the<br />

files via a parallel LapLink-style cable.<br />

Some users have set up DCC on machines using the TCP/IP protocol<br />

<strong>and</strong> used it for game playing. For other advanced tricks you can<br />

perform with DCC, see the following Web site:<br />

www.tecno.demon.co.uk/dcc/dcc.html.<br />

Troubleshooting Direct Cable Connections<br />

As Table 11.21 <strong>and</strong> the following checklist indicate, several places<br />

exist where a Direct Cable Connection setup can go wrong. Use<br />

this checklist, <strong>and</strong> Table 11.21, to make this virtually free “network”<br />

work best for you:<br />

• Make sure the same networking protocols are installed on<br />

both the host <strong>and</strong> guest machines with Windows 9x, Me, NT,<br />

or 2000. The simplest protocol to install is NetBEUI, <strong>and</strong><br />

that’s what Parallel Technologies (creator of DCC) recommends<br />

for a basic DCC mini-network. To configure NetBEUI,<br />

all you need to supply is the workgroup name (same for both<br />

guest <strong>and</strong> host) <strong>and</strong> a unique computer name for guest <strong>and</strong><br />

for host.<br />

• Use the parallel (LPT) ports for DCC when possible; although<br />

serial (COM) or IR port transfers will work, they are unbearably<br />

slow. Note that Windows Me refers to IR ports by their<br />

COM port alias in DCC, not specifically as IR ports.<br />

• Ensure that both host <strong>and</strong> guest LPT ports are working correctly,<br />

with no shared IRQ problems. Use the Windows<br />

9x/Me/2000 Device Manager to check for IRQ conflicts with<br />

the parallel port you’re using.<br />

• Make sure the person using the guest computer knows the<br />

network name of the host computer (set through the<br />

Networks icon in Control Panel, Identification tab). With a<br />

simple protocol such as NetBEUI, it might be necessary to<br />

enter the name to log in to the host machine.

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