[Sarc]

Ok, I'm out of town now, without my PowerBook (12in, Rev B). A friend is going to come over and I asked him to bring it.
He has in his DT PC a bunch of files (~140megs) he needs to transfer to my PB so I can work on them here.

I need to send him a mail, with instructions as foolproof as possible so he can transfer the files to my PB.

I suggested burning a CD, but he didn't have a recorder so that was a no-go.
mailing all the files is out of the question

The only option is to plug both computers via Ethernet (direct link using the PB's autosensing NIC).
But Networking is OS X <-> Xp isn't very easy.


Any ideas please ?

Thx

[zewm]

FTP maybe ?

[toans]

It's not too difficult to do a direct network link.

Make sure OS X has Windows File Sharing turned on (system preferences, Sharing). In that sharing panel it will tell you your mac's network address e.g. \\134.485.45.1\username.

On XP just go to network places, then add a new network place (your mac's network address).

A dialog box should pop up asking for your OS X username and password...just put that in and happily start sharing the files

[SSharon]

here's another real easy way.

move all the files you want to transfer into your Sites folder and give them nice easy names, then in a browser on the pc go to your OS X hosted web site but instead of index or default.html just type in file.ext and do that for each file.

[ebsidohw]

Windows file sharing is the easiest route.

Place all the files you want to transfer on your desktop.

If you go the windows file sharing route, just check the box in your system prefs -> sharing. Then on the windows machine, go to start -> run and type in the following:

\\x.x.x.x\user\desktop

x.x.x.x=IP of the mac
user = user account on the mac

for example:

\\192.168.0.100\whodisbe\desktop\

Then all you have to do is drag and drop the files from the mac to your pc.

[Sarc]

I think SMB is the way to go.
I'm concerned about the IP's though.
If I plug them via direct link, both computers will self-asign IP's, and when you get a 169.B.C.D IP you are practically screwed.

Would it work to turn on Internet Sharing on the powerbook (thus starting up a DHCP server) so the PB and the XP box will both get a 192.B.C.D IP ?

[naphtali]

You could always manually asign the IPs.

Also, I've seen Windows XP network over FireWire. So if the PC has FireWire...

[neilw]

FTP and windows file sharing seem roughly equivalent for this task to me. I've used FTP for this recently because I found it gave faster throughput for some gigantic files.

Either way, the steps are approximately the same:

1) turn on one item in your Sharing preferences (either windows file sharing or FTP server). You'll have to give detailed instructions on this if he's not familiar with Macs.

2) plug the computers together via ethernet.

3) get the Mac's IP address (again, detailed instructions)

4) connect from the PC to the Mac either by mapping the network drive or FTP'ing via command prompt. Then transfer away.

If he's not familiar with FTP then it might be file sharing might be simpler, since you won't have to give a detailed set of instructions on how to use FTP (though it is pretty simple for doing simple things like you're talking about.)

[absmiths]

Whether you use SMB or FTP you need to make sure the network settings are correct for both computers. If both machines are setup for DHCP, or either uses a static configuration, then this most likely won't work. If the PC is set to use DHCP, then I would use Internet Sharing to share your internet connection over ethernet. IS will create a DHCP server on ethernet and assign an IP to your XP laptop.

In my experience the interface hosting IS has to be set up manually (I set mine to 192.168.2.1).

At any rate, if the two adapters in question are not on the same subnet they won't talk at all.

[Sarc]

thx for the help everyone.

[SSharon]

Originally posted by Sarc:
thx for the help everyone.

so does that mean that it worked? and which method did you use? in case this comes up in the future.

[bmedina]

Originally posted by Sarc:and when you get a 169.B.C.D IP you are practically screwed.

Why do you say that? It's a valid IP address. Both computers will assign themselves a (unique) IP address, and you shouldn't have to change them.

[Brass]

Originally posted by bmedina:
Why do you say that? It's a valid IP address. Both computers will assign themselves a (unique) IP address, and you shouldn't have to change them.

Yes, I think "screwed" is a bit of an exaggeration. You cannot browse outside of the local subnet using Samba on Mac OS X, but that doesn't stop you entering the IP address of the machine you want to share files from.