Transfering files via crossover ethernet cable: What to co..

Dotan Cohen · External Since: Aug 20, 2009 Posts: 3

I often need to transfer large files from my notebook to other
computers. I use an 4 GB disk on key device for the purpose, but as I
have a crossover ethernet cable I figure that I might be able to
connect the computers directly. I would like to avoid configuring
anything on the "other" computer as they are not my computers (they
belong to people I study with). They are mostly Windows computers, but
there are a few Debians and one Fedora machine in the crowd.

Can I configure an FTP server locally, that would allow for easy
connection via Windows Explorer, Konqueror, and Nautilus? I need the
ability to transfer files in both directions. Thanks in advance for
any ideas.

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justin joseph · External Since: Aug 20, 2009 Posts: 2

On 8/20/09, Dotan Cohen <dotancohen DeleteThis @gmail.com> wrote:
> I often need to transfer large files from my notebook to other
> computers. I use an 4 GB disk on key device for the purpose, but as I
> have a crossover ethernet cable I figure that I might be able to
> connect the computers directly. I would like to avoid configuring
> anything on the "other" computer as they are not my computers (they
> belong to people I study with). They are mostly Windows computers, but
> there are a few Debians and one Fedora machine in the crowd.

AFAIK most of the present day network hardware have Auto-MDIX
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto-MDIX
My T42, three years old has this, so one really does not have to bother.

>
> Can I configure an FTP server locally, that would allow for easy
> connection via Windows Explorer, Konqueror, and Nautilus? I need the
> ability to transfer files in both directions. Thanks in advance for
> any ideas.

I would suggest using Samba. FTP is always an option.

>
> --
> Dotan Cohen
>
> http://what-is-what.com
> http://gibberish.co.il
>
>
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Dotan Cohen · External Since: Aug 20, 2009 Posts: 3

> AFAIK most of the present day network hardware have Auto-MDIX
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto-MDIX
> My T42, three years old has this, so one really does not have to bother.
>

This is very, very interesting, thanks! Do both sides have to support
this for it to work, or is one side enough?

>> Can I configure an FTP server locally, that would allow for easy
>> connection via Windows Explorer, Konqueror, and Nautilus? I need the
>> ability to transfer files in both directions. Thanks in advance for
>> any ideas.
>
> I would suggest using Samba. Â FTP is always an option.
>

Really? Do you suggest Samba because it works with the Windows
machines? Should I use it when connecting to other Debian or Fedora
machines?

Also, as there is no router involved, how would the the "other"
machine connect to my machine? Will I need to install a DHCP server?
Can I assign a name to my laptop, so that the other machine could just
connect to that name?

Thanks! I have been googling this all morning and I cannot believe
that not many people have been in this situation before, it seems so
commonplace.

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Dotan Cohen

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justin joseph · External Since: Aug 20, 2009 Posts: 2

On Thu, Aug 20, 2009 at 2:13 PM, Dotan Cohen<dotancohen RemoveThis @gmail.com> wrote:
>> AFAIK most of the present day network hardware have Auto-MDIX
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto-MDIX
>> My T42, three years old has this, so one really does not have to bother.
>>
>
> This is very, very interesting, thanks! Do both sides have to support
> this for it to work, or is one side enough?

One side is sufficient I guess.

>
>>> Can I configure an FTP server locally, that would allow for easy
>>> connection via Windows Explorer, Konqueror, and Nautilus? I need the
>>> ability to transfer files in both directions. Thanks in advance for
>>> any ideas.
>>
>> I would suggest using Samba. FTP is always an option.
>>
>
> Really? Do you suggest Samba because it works with the Windows
> machines? Should I use it when connecting to other Debian or Fedora
> machines?

You can use it as well. There are lot of options while copying files between
GNU/Linux installed machines, you can use FTP, scp etc.. I mostly
use scp to copy between peer's.

>
> Also, as there is no router involved, how would the the "other"
> machine connect to my machine? Will I need to install a DHCP server?
> Can I assign a name to my laptop, so that the other machine could just
> connect to that name?

one can connectly directly with an ethernet cable. assign I.P's in
the same subnet
(example 192.168.1.2/24 192.168.1.3/24) and there's network between
two computers.
You don't need DHCP, thats basically required for managing networks
when there are more
clients. I don't know the kind of setup you need so unable to
comment. Ideally you
might think of getting a switch(maybe wireless but less speed) and
connecting the different
computers, again I don't now the requirements. Naming requires DNS support..

If you intend to setup basic networking you might want to read:

http://www.netfilter.org/documentation/HOWTO/networking-concepts-HOWTO.html

Rusty's others documentations are interesting and fun as well.

Debian has all the tools you might require for doing your networking tasks.

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Dotan Cohen · External Since: Aug 20, 2009 Posts: 3

>> Also, as there is no router involved, how would the the "other"
>> machine connect to my machine? Will I need to install a DHCP server?
>> Can I assign a name to my laptop, so that the other machine could just
>> connect to that name?
>
> one can connectly directly with an ethernet cable. Â assign I.P's in
> the same subnet
> (example 192.168.1.2/24 192.168.1.3/24) and there's network between
> two computers.

How would I go about doing that for a "network" that is temporary in
nature and between just two computers? I do not want to change
settings that would prevent the laptop from connecting regularly when
I take it back home and connect to my home wired network.

> You don't need DHCP, thats basically required for managing networks
> when there are more
> clients. Â I don't know the kind of setup you need so unable to
> comment.

The setup is a temporary network between two computers with the goal
of moving files between them. My own laptop would still need to be
able to connect to the home network when I get home, and the other
computer would just have it's Internet connection severed for a few
minutes while I transfer the files to / from it.

> Â Ideally you
> might think of getting a switch(maybe wireless but less speed) and
> connecting the different
> computers, again I don't now the requirements. Â Naming requires DNS support.
>

No, I do not want to add any other hardware to this improvised
network.I am just looking for an easy way to transfer files between
machines.

> If you intend to setup basic networking you might want to read:
>
> http://www.netfilter.org/documentation/HOWTO/networking-concepts-HOWTO.html
>

Thanks, I will read that.

> Rusty's others documentations are interesting and fun as well.
>
> Debian has all the tools you might require for doing your networking tasks.
>

That's what I figured, but I need someone with more experience than I
have to let me know which tools I need. My field is mechanical
engineering, not CS.

Thanks!

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Dotan Cohen

http://what-is-what.com
http://gibberish.co.il

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Alexandre Rossi · External Since: Jan 26, 2007 Posts: 4

Hi,

> How would I go about doing that for a "network" that is temporary in
> nature and between just two computers? I do not want to change
> settings that would prevent the laptop from connecting regularly when
> I take it back home and connect to my home wired network.

I would suggest either of :
- A Zeroconf setup with avahi-autoipd and an advertised samba service
on your laptop for file exchange (Samba is supported out of the box on
Windows and Mac clients, and is easy to use as a client at least on
Gnome&KDE, FTP is still an alternative) :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeroconf (I never implemented this but it
should work, and it would be reasonable to assume that avahi-autoipd
uses a DHCP server if it finds one)
- a script on your laptop that would automatically start a DHCP server
and configure your Ethernet interface consistently with the DHCP
server setup, and start a file server daemon and when you're finished,
put back your settings in place.

Both setups do not involve software installation on the computers you
want to interact with, and network interface settings are left in
"Automatic IP address".

Alex

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