My parents just bought me a laptop and I'd like to transfer data from my PC to it. I've bought a data transfer cable, but got stuck after that.
I get the impression that the cable alone with some software setting up isn't enough - that I'll need to have network cards on both machines.
Is this true, or can I do the transfer with just the cable and if so - how?
(I've managed to do the transfer via CD-R's, but I'd prefer an easier way).
Cheers! Posted by Siegfried (Member # 29) on :
Huh. I don't have any idea what a data transfer cable is, so I can't help you there. The only way I transfer files from one computer to another is by using two network cards and a crossover patch. That's the only way I go when I need to move big files or a lot of files from one computer to another. It's pretty easy to do, actually.
Posted by Cartmaniac (Member # 256) on :
Oh dear.
You don't need software, per se.
You don't need NICs, at all.
What you do need is one o' them good old-fashioned serial cables and two ports to plug it in.
Seriously, you probably do need to have network cards in both computers. The data transfer *has* to involve a connection between the two computers, and so they need to have some way of recognizing each other. After all, even just two computers connected to each other constitutes a network.
Is your data cable USB? Or Ethernet? (I don't think FireWire has come to Windows yet?)
Posted by Siegfried (Member # 29) on :
I did a search on data transfer cables, and I'll echo MinutiaeMan's question: what kind of cable is it? If it's a USB, serial, or parallel cable, then you won't need network cards. You'll just plug them into the proper ports on your computers and follow the software's instructions. If it's crossover network cord, then you're going to need network cards (but you won't need to install any software -- just the cards and their drivers).
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
Serial to serial always worked for me, well, now USB to USB would be faster.
Aren't drivers software?
Posted by Siegfried (Member # 29) on :
Well, yeah, but I was speaking of software in terms of applications.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
Drivers won't necessarily solve the problem. I'm pretty sure that drivers are intended mainly for a single computer to interface with various peripheral hardware. That's very different from a network card, which is needed to interface with another computer.
(This isn't a fully informed opinion here, but I'm pretty sure it works the same on Windows as on a Mac in that area.)
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
Two options I know about:
1) Cat5 crossover cable. Plug into both network jacks, set up Windows on both machines to give 'em IP addresses in the same neighborhood, share the data you want, mount the drive and you're off. You could do the same with a network hub and patch cables, of course, but you can get a 7' crossover for $5 at Circuit City. This also has the advantage of allowing you to set up briefcases, which let you keep your documents on both computers synchronized. It's what I do with my desktop, laptop and keychain.
2) Null modem cable in the serial ports. Then either download Stargate from download.com, or get some sort of... terminal program, is that the term? It's been a while since I had to do this. This way isn't pretty. The only real reason to do it is if you don't have network cards. Of course, the network card for your desktop can be had for way cheap, or even free right now at OfficeMax or thereabouts. (Always look in your Sunday paper for good deals.)
There's probably a USB solution, but I have no idea about that.
Posted by akb1979 (Member # 557) on :
Here's the description:
PARALLEL DATA TRANSFER CABLE (1.8 METRES): High speed file transfer cable for use with DOS or Windows 95/98 direct cable connection utility. Connects to any standard printer port. 5MB/min data transfer rate.
After just reading that little piece, do I need a direct cable connection utility or have I already got it?
WHAT THE HELL AM I TO DO!!!
Cheers!
PS - My PC has WinMe and my laptop WinXp.
Posted by Cartmaniac (Member # 256) on :
"WHAT THE HELL AM I TO DO!!!"
1) Shove one end of cable in desktop printer port 2) Shove other end of cable in laptop printer port 3) Fire up Programs\Accessories\Communications\Direct Cable Connection 4) Follow the wizard 5) Revel!
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
6) Bang head on keyboard when above steps fail? 7) Purchase Macintosh computer. 8) In Finder, open menu item "Go -> Connect to Server." Select computer from list, input login name and password. 9) Watch the other computer appear on the desktop.
"My PC wasn't Plug-n-Play. It was Plug-n-Get-Mad." -- Janie Porche
Hmm? Don't mind me, I'm just going overboard with the Mac evangelism... Posted by Siegfried (Member # 29) on :
"My PC wasn't Plug-n-Play. It was Plug-n-Get-Mad."
"Your computer isn't hard to use. You're just incompetent."
Posted by Balaam Xumucane (Member # 419) on :
I got your back, MM. Not to fan the flames or anything or to disturb any shit, but there are those among us who do know how to use a computer and use PCs on a farily regular basis and simply choose to use the Macintosh because we have made a personal choice about how we like to spend our time, and a big priority for us was how much we enjoy it when things are easy and user-friendly.
My G4 running OS X has been running for three weeks without a reset. I currently have IE, Eudora, Safari, iTunes (MP3), Photoshop, Illustrator, TextEdit, Toast, Preview (image viewer), BBEdit, and a couple of OS9 utilities running with the SETI@home screensaver popping on when I get up to use the bathroom or make a sandwich or whatever. In case you're not paying attention, that's kind of a stupid number of Apps to have open. You might assume that I'm an idiotic lazy redneck because I'm couriting danger. Except that it's bloody rock-steady and I'm totally not worried about it. I wanted to download some animated gifs from IE ( friend told me where to get them in an email), and so I opened the separate frames in Preview, washed them through Photoshop for color correction, dropped those frames into an Illustrator document along with some text (TextEdit) for the CD I'm burning in Toast. Also I wanted to listen to the White Stripes (on iTunes) while I was working on this. Also I wanted to poke my head up at Flare (which just renders better in Safari, I find) to make sure no one was slagging off Macs up there.
But so I'm so very not interested in starting a war of the OSes or a pissing contest of open apps (because I did open my 3D program briefly just to see if it would do it and it wasn't an issue) and I'm not saying the PC can't or wouldn't do this. I'm saying my Mac can and does and is doing it right now. It's a real OS and it's very powerful and worthy and cool and we happen to like it a lot and maybe other people might like it too, and they needn't be stupid or rednecks or lazy or anything.
(but since we don't have parallel printer ports akb's cable is useless to us, so we'd have to use our networking (wireless perhaps or using the built in Ethernet and a cross-over) or Firewire target disk mode (which is a stupidly fast and easy way to do things.))
(also for the sake of thoroughness, DAVE let's my Macs talk to my PCs and vice versa.)
(Please feel free to disregard this Mac evangelism moment and I did think the cartoon was funny.) Posted by Cartmaniac (Member # 256) on :
You ever hear the Tale of the Evangelist who preached Too Loud?
[ May 26, 2003, 08:00 AM: Message edited by: Cartmaniac ]
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
I thought the cartoon was funny too. I can take a good ribbing on occasion.
(And just for the record, OS X 10.2 includes full SAMBA compatability for normal networking between Windows and Mac.)
Last night I had a whole shitload of apps running:
Camino (a Mozilla flavor) Mail Palm Desktop MSN Messenger iTunes 4 -- *while* streaming some MP3's to my sister's computer on our home's wireless LAN Dreamweaver MX BBEdit Transmit (FTP transfer) Microsoft Word v.X ScreenWriter 2000 Adobe Acrobat 5 SETI@home command line client (in background)
Now, folks, I'm running on a processor that's essentially 5-year-old technology. The G3/600 mHz is a relatively old processor technology -- heck, they're probably going to be announcing the G5 this summer -- and I've "only" got 384 MB of RAM, to boot!
Uhh... what were we talking about? Oh yeah, networking.
Windows networking is fully built in to the current versions of OS X... link up the two with a cable, and you can transfer stuff as easily as between two Windows machines. (Of course, that's what you're having trouble with right now, isn't it? )
Posted by Siegfried (Member # 29) on :
Yeah, but I bet your Mac can't run Deer Hunter 3: Rise of the Death Jeep.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
The question is, why would I want to? Posted by Balaam Xumucane (Member # 419) on :
No, I'm afraid he's got us there. No Death Jeep. Or Darth Jeep for that matter. We're so hosed w/r/t games.
Posted by Siegfried (Member # 29) on :
::sigh:: I miss my old Apple IIe. I had really cool games for it.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
My primary school had an old Apple IIe... they had some incredible games back then. The one I remember best was called "Think Quick." No idea now what it was about, aside from running around in mazes trying to avoid day-glo worms...
Yeah, I must admit that the gaming situation for Macs these days still sucks. Although I've heard that it's supposed to be a lot easier to port PC games to OS X than it was to the classic MacOS... but that's moot if the game publishers aren't willing to put the effort into getting it done.
Civilization III came out for the Mac "only" about one month behind the Windows release, but we're currently running a full patch behind the Win release (Win 1.29, Mac 1.21), and that Windows patch was posted about eight months ago. I'm playing CivIII with a beta version of the latest patch (Mac 1.29), which a generous soul over at the Mac porting company is writing in his spare time. The first CivIII expansion pack came out months ago with no committment to a Mac version (though it's been promised), and the SECOND pack was recently announced -- naturally, no promise of Mac support.
Then there's SimCity 4 that recently came out. The minimum recommended system is the specs of a (portable) computer that came out only ONE YEAR AGO. (If it's a desktop model, it's up to two years. Whoopee! -- My dad's still using a five-year-old machine, and there's a ten-year-old machine in the basement that's probably still operable.) My 18-month-old iBook -- which was a middle-level model when I bought it, mind you, not the cheap end -- only has a quarter of the graphics memory that's "required" -- and I'm loathe to buy the game only to find out that playing it sucks on an older system.
On a more positive note, I *am* still able to play "Star Trek 25th Anniversary" on my current computer when I boot up Classic mode... that game NEVER gets old! Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
I wasn't so much directing my comment as Mac users, as the whiny assholes in the Mac ads.
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
I miss my old Apple IIe. I had really cool games for it.
Omega, those emulators for Mac you linked to are all at least three or four years out of date, and all of those would require booting up Classic, which is basically an OS 9 emulator for the older programs, inside OS X. Running an emulator inside another emulator isn't exactly a good idea.
[ May 27, 2003, 01:57 AM: Message edited by: TSN ]
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
quote:Originally posted by MinutiaeMan: "My PC wasn't Plug-n-Play. It was Plug-n-Get-Mad." -- Janie Porche
If you're going to quote a joke, please make sure it's funny. Or if you can't manage that, please make sure it works. Honestly, "play" becomes "get mad"? Even if it's the "there's no connection between the phrases hence there is shock value", it's still shitter than listening to whiny Mac wankfans going on and on about how their computers are so great and wonderful and give regular blow jobs and everything.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
Uh, I presume you know what "Plug-n-Play" means, right?
Plug-n-Play: Connect a USB device to the computer, and have it instantly available for use.
Plug-n-Get-Mad: What happens when Plug-n-Play doesn't work. A frequent occurrence on many Windows machines, I'm told.
Posted by Siegfried (Member # 29) on :
I might have considered getting a Mac for the blow jobs, but I have had experiences with them proving that the enjoyment of said blow jobs from the Macs are worse than just sticking your penis in a vacuum cleaner. In my experience, they've gone down more often than a crack whore but fall asleep once they get down there.
On the flip side, the only major problems I've ever had with Windows is the annoying Windows Messenger in XP Pro and a buggy version of Back-Up in Windows 95. Oh, and Paintbrush's color eraser would occassionally do funky things in Windows 3.11.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
quote:I might have considered getting a Mac for the blow jobs...
I'm sorry, Sieggy, but I can't resist making that one my new sig! Posted by Balaam Xumucane (Member # 419) on :
They told me that hole was a speaker! I got so ripped off!!
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
quote:Originally posted by MinutiaeMan: Uh, I presume you know what "Plug-n-Play" means, right?
Plug-n-Play: Connect a USB device to the computer, and have it instantly available for use.
I do know what "plug-n-play" is. You don't, but I don't expect anything more from someone who uses a "rolleyes" emoticon with such blatant disregard for the social lubrication of our civilisation.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
Sorry, I was a little heavy on the sarcasm there. No offense intended...
My argument, however, remains -- getting mad is about when the Plug-n-Play system fails to work as it should. Your last post seemed to suggest you didn't see (or accept) the connection between the two. That's all.
Now would be a bad time for that enormous "rolleyes" smiley from a while back, I assume... Posted by Balaam Xumucane (Member # 419) on :
I always thought that Plug-n'-Pray was more appropriate anyway. So, I've had plenty of bad experiences on Macs as well as PCs with this.
By way of example, my Ricoh (I know!) digital camera does not/will not ever have an OSX driver. Just like that. Na, it's old. Get a new camera. OK, I'll get a Canon, they're cuter! Assheads... And but so then, my Canon LCD scanner which I like very much is only accessible by OSX applications while Classic is not running (but it's accessible by Classic Apps. Which was clever until I got Photoshop 7.0.)
On the other hand adding the second monitor was literally as easy as opening the case, plugging in the video card and hooking up the monitor. Like the first thing it did after startup was to ask me where I wanted to position the new desktop. Brilliant! The variety of digital video cameras I've used on a few projects have all plugged and played quite nicely with FCP3. Also the multiformat Memory Card reader I picked up (for US$20!) in lieu of buying a new digital camera has worked perfectly and without incident without any drivers or whatever.
And, and, and... I was curious about using Samba to access my PCs without using Dave, and too right it was easy. You just use "Connect to server..." in the finder menu. Fucking easy, that was.
Which is to say that I like plugging things in and just having them work and this has generally been a less common experience with my PC systems. Like it being generally preferential that you simply insert the proper cords between the peripheral and the machine and they sort out who is who and how over plugging the thing in and then nothing happening and then going back and trying to figure out what you did wrong, and like going to the website for the drivers, but the manual has the wrong URL and so you have to go poking around or maybe visit drivers.com or some bullshit and eventually you get something that seems like it ought to work and now you've spent like maybe a half-an-hour or so traking this thing down and it may not even work. (i.e. I still can't convince that Win2K box (for which I've lost the password, admittedly my fault) that I want to install Win 98SE over it. Even with the boot disks and DOS commands and advice everyone here was nice enough to turn me onto. The fdisk question looms in the air precisely the way a thundercloud wouldn't.)
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
quote:Originally posted by MinutiaeMan: My argument, however, remains -- getting mad is about when the Plug-n-Play system fails to work as it should. Your last post seemed to suggest you didn't see (or accept) the connection between the two. That's all.
No. I got the joke. I simply thought it was shit.
I am also occasionally short-tempered, but some people like that, apparently. And Lee does occasionally miss people.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"And but so then..."
Please don't abuse conjunctions. Someday, they won't be there when you need them. Then you'll be sorry.
Posted by Balaam Xumucane (Member # 419) on :
The spirit of David Foster Wallace compelled me to do it.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Yay!
Posted by Balaam Xumucane (Member # 419) on :
DFW fan or thread tangent sacrasm?
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
Yes.....
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Oh, fan, for sure. Mind you, I have read only his nonfiction.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
Perhaps some people would find this interesting. Possibly just amusing. Or at least diverting. Most likely just plain stupid.
I've never actually used Slackware Linux, so I don't know about the comparison, but I like the fact that my logo is J.R. "Bob" Dobbs.
Posted by akb1979 (Member # 557) on :
After going through the instructions on the site provided by Cartmaniac, I have now spoken to the guy I bought my PC from and he says that I need a network card in both - BUGGER!
Thanks for the advice everyone! Posted by Balaam Xumucane (Member # 419) on :
Wow, Networking, Mac-hyperevangelism/Mac-baiting, David Foster Wallace, which-OS-are-you? and now Church of the Subgenius. Could this thread get any more relevant?
Posted by CaptainMike (Member # 709) on :
my cat's breath smells like cat food
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Go, banana!
Posted by Grokca (Member # 722) on :
quote:my cat's breath smells like cat food
If you stop feeding it, that will go away.
Posted by akb1979 (Member # 557) on :
OK, old discussion resurrection . . .
I've got a prob with Win XP - it won't let me:
a) save pics - they all come up as "untitled" and as only as bmp's when they're all jpeg's/jpg's. Why?
b) Java links to open things in new windows don't work, like pictures and stuff.
What gives? What setting has been messed with? How do I fix this?
Cheers in advance! Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
a) That's IE for you. It's always done this, occasionally, for me. Where an image is linked to directly, do right-click, save target as. . .
b) Assuming you're using IE, do you have an MSN or Google toolbar installed with a pop-up blocker?
Posted by akb1979 (Member # 557) on :
That was fast Lee!
a) I do that but it still comes up as a bmp - but I just saved two pics and put ".jpg" at the end and it saved them as jpg's.
b) No I don't have those.
c) New one here - I transfered all my files to an external hard drive and it kept asking me about some file called "thumbs" . . . Have I done something stupid by copying this file from "My Pictures"? Should that file remain in that folder? Should I put it back? Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
c) The thumbs file - Thumbs.db? - is what is used when you have your folder view in XP set to Thumbnails. It saves the thumnails themselves for future viewing. If you try to view a folder of thumbnails on some sort of read-only media it'll let you, but won't save the results. And I've seen some strange errors some up to do with moving contents of such folders around as well. Just ignore it.
. . . and delete it from your external drive, you don't really need it. Move it back into My Pictures if you want.
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
May 2003 was totally the height of the Malcolm OSX craze.
And you do have Javascript enabled, don't you?
Posted by akb1979 (Member # 557) on :
To the best of my knowledge Cartman yes - but how do I check to make extra sure. Oh and thanks for the link!
Lee - you say to delete it from the external HDD? OK - it's you fault if things go wrong! HEHE! Posted by akb1979 (Member # 557) on :
Well, it's over.
He went to the meeting, presented his case and then it was adjourned for about 20 mins. He then went back in and they told him that they would be taking it to the second stage of warning - i.e. his first written warning (verbal being the first). They factored in his good conduct to date and, from his impressions during the meetings, the fact that they can't 100% prove that it was him due to all that crappy software on the machine.
He's happy with this and has now left the company, being paid his notice period in lieu - his stress is finally over. He's sad to be leaving this way, but that's the way it is. He's gonna miss people there as they will miss him (all of them are disgusted at the way that he's been treated, but happy that he's happy with the outcome).
I have been asked to pass on his deepest thanks and appreciation to those of you who have helped with advice and technical and legal know-how and who have offered him support. So . . .
Next tech Q: my sister's new PC makes the phone ring when it disconnects - how do we stop this? Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
What? I don't see how that's possible. Does it ring once, or repeatedly? Might it be something done by the ISP to signify the phone is now free? I sugest you contact them, or BT.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Maybe the other end is trying to reconnect to your computer but instead just picks up a phone and it rings?
Posted by akb1979 (Member # 557) on :
It just rings the once, but it doesn't happen to my PC or my parents - we all use the same ISP.
Contact BT? OK. Any other ideas, like settings? Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Maybe check the phone extension for her PC? I've seen some weird things happen from incorrectly-wired extensions, or faulty phone adapter plugs. . .
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
Erh, not that I'm keeping tabs on your life or anything, but you and your family all live in the same house and share a single anolog telephone line, right?
Anyway, does the phone always ring when your (twin?) sissster closes the connection, or only after she's been online a while? Because it sounds like some strangely misconfigured call waiting software is playing pranks on her, but that's about all I can think of.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
I had a similar problem at my old house. If my modem was plugged into the phone line, the other phones in the house would ring continiously, until I connected to the internet. When I disconnected, the same thing happened.
I got around it by just pulling the modem lead out whenever I wanted to disconnect. And I couldn't quite be bothered finding out why it was so weird.
So that's not very helpful at all.
Posted by akb1979 (Member # 557) on :
Cartman - yeah we all share one phone line and live in the same how - you spying on us?
It only rings when my sister disconnects from her internet connection and only rings once. It's quiet at any other time unless someone rings us normally.
Something could be faulty . . . sounds right - we did get it from PC World. Posted by akb1979 (Member # 557) on :
Um, just a quick question:
Is there a way to determine whether someone has blocked your e-mail account from their account? i.e. you send them an e-mail and it gets blocked/sent to the trash bin? Can you find out from your end other than them not replying to you?
Cheers!
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
Nope.
Posted by Futurama Guy (Member # 968) on :
You could call and ask them.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Or send them an email.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
OH SNAP!
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
OK, I've got one: what do I have to delete to get rid of the annoying feature my work IE has, of remembering virtually everything I type into a Search field? Especially in Google where I look for all sorts of bizarre info.
Posted by Topher (Member # 71) on :
Its something to do with the AutoComplete feature. I think you can turn it off in IE's options somewhere.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
I've looked there's a "Use Inline AutoComplete" in the Advanced tab but it's not ticked. . .
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Well, I don't know what version you're on, but, on mine, the Content tab of the Internet Options has an AutoComplete button that brings up a separate window where you can select when to use AC. It also has buttons to clear out what it has already stored.
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That was fast Lee!