On 8 Feb 99, at 12:42, David Hurst wrote:

> is there a "preferred" protocol to be used for a simple local (2
> machine) network ?
> I have the network currently working; having ne2000 compatible
> NICs , but notice there are 2 protocols(netbeui and ipx/spx bound
> to the card..???  should there be two..??  or is one
> preferrred..???? and if so. which one...??

  First the good news:  There's an interface component in Windows
networking (called NDIS) that lets you run multiple protocols over a
single adapter.  So this probably isn't a problem.

  Windows supports three main protocols:

1. TCP/IP
  This is what the Internet uses; it's probably the most widely
understood.  If you will be using your LAN as a way to share an
Internet connection, you might consider installing this -- some
Internet software may not talk to anything else.

2. IPS/SPX
  This is the protocol used by Novell Netware.  It's also supported by
some multi-player network games.  It's possible for some "gateway"
programs to connect an IPX LAN to the Internet.

3. NETBEUI
  NETBEUI is a tight little protocol for small networks -- it doesn't
scale to larger nets.


  So unless perhaps you're trying to share an Internet connection, you
should get pretty good results with NETBEUI as your primary protocol
and IPX for games.


David G

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