Networking Q

[pyrate83]

Ok, I now have two computers officially networked together and sharing files and resources. This computer is the host and the other computer connected through the router is the only other computer on the network right now. When I go to print from the other computer on this computer's printer, I can't tell the ink levels of this printer. I can however check the ink levels from this computer but since I am not the one using the other computer I wanted to see if there were any suggestions for getting the ink levels to show on the other computer. Not a big deal, I know but it still would be nice.

I should also add that both computers seem to be recognizing each other perfectly and I am able to print from either computer.

[stiltman]

most home printers are designed to be networked (shared). The dirver and the associated exe that hadles the ink levels must not fully install for a network printer

[808smokey]

most home printers are designed to be networked (shared). The dirver and the associated exe that hadles the ink levels must not fully install for a network printer

I'm sorry but that doesn't make any sense to me You would need the driver installed on both computers in order for it work, I would think

[pyrate83]

most home printers are designed to be networked (shared). The dirver and the associated exe that hadles the ink levels must not fully install for a network printer

I'm sorry but that doesn't make any sense to me You would need the driver installed on both computers in order for it work, I would think

You're right, you do need the drivers installed on both computers in order for them to network properly. I did that but still can only find out the ink levels on my computer not the other one.

[andyp1]

I think that is how it is . I have 2 PCs networked and can only get ink levels from the pc that the printer in plugged into.

Edit Mine is an Epson

[stiltman]

Most home printers are design specifically to communicate via USB or Parallel port. In your case, you are trying to communicate TCP/IP then to the other computers USB/Parallel port. Like I said most drivers are not designed to do this. You still have a functioning printer, but you may not have all the usuability that the computer has that's actually connected to the printer. I've seen this before with Epson printers

Also make sure both user accounts are admins

[pyrate83]

Ok, thanks for the information. I think I can learn to live without this feature on the other computer.

BTW-Having two computers networked has really made my life a little easier.

Thanks again.

[Greg12]

i can do what he's talking bout with my Epson printer just lkike it's tied to my computer

what OS are you running, i'm running XP PRo

[pyrate83]

I'm running XP home. Everything else works fine from both computers though.

BTW-What should the transfer rate of a file between the two computers be? I used the other computer to rip a movie yesterday and then copied it from my computer onto my HDD and it came in at 0.8 mb/sec from the other computer. Both are fairly fast 2.8ghz and 2.53 ghz with my system having 1GB of RAM. Is that normal b/c my linksys router is capable of up to 11mb/sec but I guess that may just be the max speed for accessing the internet through it?

[808smokey]

I'm running XP home. Everything else works fine from both computers though.

BTW-What should the transfer rate of a file between the two computers be? I used the other computer to rip a movie yesterday and then copied it from my computer onto my HDD and it came in at 0.8 mb/sec from the other computer. Both are fairly fast 2.8ghz and 2.53 ghz with my system having 1GB of RAM. Is that normal b/c my linksys router is capable of up to 11mb/sec but I guess that may just be the max speed for accessing the internet through it?

Right click the network connection icon in your network neighborhood. It should transfer at 10.0Mbps. Your ethernet card is probably 10baseT which is 10meg per second. I would think that it would go a lot faster then .8mbps.

[pyrate83]

I'm running XP home. Everything else works fine from both computers though.

BTW-What should the transfer rate of a file between the two computers be? I used the other computer to rip a movie yesterday and then copied it from my computer onto my HDD and it came in at 0.8 mb/sec from the other computer. Both are fairly fast 2.8ghz and 2.53 ghz with my system having 1GB of RAM. Is that normal b/c my linksys router is capable of up to 11mb/sec but I guess that may just be the max speed for accessing the internet through it?

Right click the network connection icon in your network neighborhood. It should transfer at 10.0Mbps. Your ethernet card is probably 10baseT which is 10meg per second. I would think that it would go a lot faster then .8mbps.

Yeah my card is connected at 100mbps but I checked the speed of roadrunner and I'm running at around 3mbps which from what I have read is fairly normal I think? Maybe my network isn't set up properly or something? Any suggestions?

[pyrate83]

Should it take 45 minutes to transfer 2GB of files between my networked PC's??? Because that's what i'm showing and now I'm not sure if that's normal?

If my network isn't set up properly can someone give me some help or a walkthrough for making sure it's set up properly?
Thanks.

[bugster]

Right click on the taskbar and select task manager. Click the network tab.
Now start copying a large file from this PC to the other. If the data transfer rate does not average well above 50Mbps there is something wrong with your set up. I get 80-85Mbps copies across my Home LAN, used to be slower with my old Hub but still in the 70-75 mark.

[andyp1]

FYI I don't use a router , I have 600k cable going to 1 PC to a USB port with a Ethernet>USB adapter supplied by NTL (my broadband supplier ) My Epson printer is connected to that PC.
Al I have between the 2 PCs is a cross-over ethernet cable ( cost £2.99 at a small computer shop ) I get full networking ability on both PCs Internet , filesharing and printer sharing .
I used to use a laplink cable between the 2 pcs to transfer files across - a 700MB AVI would take around 30-35mins.

Since using the ethernet network I transfer a 700MB AVI in just over 2 (TWO) Minutes . The only Function I don't have is as the original post had said , no ink monitor on the second PC.

Not a bad deal for £2.99 I Think .


I did when I got a second Tower buy a broadband router and straight ethernet cables around £50 . I could not get it to be recognised by NTL and the don't support anything but what they recommend as a network manufacturer . If Id used their recommended supplier it would have been around £100-£150 .(No thank you NTL)

I just thought this info would be helpful if anyone else has more than one pc and would like to network them together.

I run WinXP SP1 on both PCs and used the network set up wizard. Took me about an hour to sort out.

[pyrate83]

Ok, there's officially something not right with my network setup I'm sure. I did what you said and under networking in the task manager, I see the green graph with the line staying close to or just slightly above 0%. My link speed is at 100mbps however I didn't see any change in activity when I copied a larger file from this PC to the other? That didn't seem right. Can you help me get my network up and running? I think the root of my problem is associated with the fact that I have both my LAN and 1394 connections being recognized when I go into the nework setup wizard. The other PC has no firewire and therefore sets up properly but I get an error. I have tried disabling the 1394 adapter but the computer seems to think that I am using that adapter somewhere in my setup which I'm not. I am just connecting the two PC's through a router and the linksys router is connected to my cable modem. I'm LOST!

[pyrate83]

FYI I don't use a router , I have 600k cable going to 1 PC to a USB port with a Ethernet>USB adapter supplied by NTL (my broadband supplier ) My Epson printer is connected to that PC.
Al I have between the 2 PCs is a cross-over ethernet cable ( cost £2.99 at a small computer shop ) I get full networking ability on both PCs Internet , filesharing and printer sharing .
I used to use a laplink cable between the 2 pcs to transfer files across - a 700MB AVI would take around 30-35mins.

Since using the ethernet network I transfer a 700MB AVI in just over 2 (TWO) Minutes . The only Function I don't have is as the original post had said , no ink monitor on the second PC.

Not a bad deal for £2.99 I Think .



I did when I got a second Tower buy a broadband router and straight ethernet cables around £50 . I could not get it to be recognised by NTL and the don't support anything but what they recommend as a network manufacturer . If Id used their recommended supplier it would have been around £100-£150 .(No thank you NTL)

I just thought this info would be helpful if anyone else has more than one pc and would like to network them together.

I run WinXP SP1 on both PCs and used the network set up wizard. Took me about an hour to sort out.

Thanks, after I did some careful consideration a time spent I decided to update the driver for my LAN card and I got some more settings and such to play around with. I'm happy with that. Here's what I found in task mnger.

My card is connected at 100mbs and when I go to copy a file from one computer's hdd to the other my network utilization is about 9 or 10% but does that transfer to about 9 or 10 mbps or what? How do I know? If it is at 10mbps then that would make sense seeing how my linksys router only goes up to 11mbps. Now I'm wondering if I should have spent the extra $$$ and gone with the 54mbps you can get with a G router

[bugster]

Hmmm, now I am confused. How exactly is your system connected. Are you using ethernet cables or wireless?

If ethernet your max speed is 100Mbps, if wireless and 802.11b your max speed is 11Mbps but don't expect to see more than 6 or maybe 7 Mbps actual data rate.