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[Sindi Keesan <keesan AT iamjlamb.com>]

Last time I tried with what I thought was crossover cable, then did a 
parallel transfer, then tried the other cable and it did not work either.

I left the second cable plugged in (where the ends have colors that line 
up with each other, I think - am I wrong here?) and turned on the two 
computers and tried again, in order to check 'route' as you suggested.  
Then I decided to give ping one more try and this time it worked.  Maybe 
using plip in the middle last time interfered somehow.  I also sent one 
50K file in some fraction of a second and will try fs.img next.

Summary of what worked:
Look up the card name in linux online-HOWTO (which said it was one of 
three possibilities for Kingston), look it up by name on the web and find 
tulip.o, also boot with bzImage from net.i and it said something about 
tulip.c.  Copy tulip.o to the misc directory under modules on both 
computers and install the cards and plug in the cable (of the proper 
sort).

insmod 8390
insmod tulip  [for other cards a different module here]
ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.1  [on the other computer .2]
ping 192.168.1.2   

If this transfers files, then type
receive   [on the computer to receive]
send [on the sending computer]
192.168.1.2 [name of receiving computer]
filename

I seem to have a 100Mb card by accident.

This was, once I spent an hour or so finding the correct module and 
installing it, quicker to type than plip.  Three lines instead of the five 
you need if you have not already installed the parport modules, and less 
numbers to get wrong.

I may get two more pairs of cards.  I could not find the winbond module - 
is it simply not available precompiled for sw71?  Too new?  I will get 
another cable of the sort that worked (colors line up end to end).

Will let you know if fs.img transfers properly now.....

Took about 3-4 seconds estimated.
The receiving computer spouted a long list of:
VM:  do_try_to-free-pages failed for nc (or for tar)

The md5sums are identical!!!!!!!

I am convinced that ethernet is useful:
1.  It transfers files without errors.
2.  It is much faster (esp. my 100Mb cards)
3.  I don't need to unplug the printer first
4.  It requires a bit less typing (one long number, no echos)
5.  There is no way to get the cable pushed in only halfway without 
noticing, as happens sometimes with the parallel cable (we don't screw 
them in because we will just be putting back the printer cable).

I wish I had known this all before doing five 147MB 60 min plip transfers 
(and a few other longish ones).

Thanks to everyone who talked me into and through this.

I hope they have two of the correct cable where I got the two wrong ones.
The correct one was from a yard sale which closed, but had a large box of 
misc. cables.  I might try there again.  This one looks like something 
inside is actually twisted.  It is unlabelled.


> > Assuming both systems are showing a route to each other,
> > the most like problem is hardware.  Either cable or NIC.
> > Most likely cable.
> 
> I tried two types of cable, one in which the two ends have colors that
> line up when you put them end to end but are mirror images if put side to
> side, and one where they are identical left to right if you put them side
> to side.  The latter was in the same box as the network cards, all for
> sale, by someone who knows about this.  How do I determine if it is
> crossover?  The plug ends are the same on both cables.
> 
>  
> > > I plug in the cable and a second light goes on on each card. 
> > 
> > That's a good sign for the NICs.  I'm guessing they are OK.
> > That leaves the cable.  It must be wired as a cross-over
> > cable.  Most cables are not wired that way.
> 
> 
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