Connect 2 XP pc's by Ethernet Cable

[smartygoldenfish]

hi.
i have a Windows xp PC and a Laptop. I want to connect them so that i can see all the files and folders of one on other. Now,
1. below are pics of my modem and my cable. please tell me what type of modem is it. ADSL or xDSL and the cable is connector cable or Ethernet cable or crossover cable.





2. using the cable shown, joined it from PC to My Windows Vista Laptop and ran a preinstalled program is Vista to connect computers. This program succesfully connected the pcs, it transfered files but Main problem with this is this program shows the contents of Host (PC which is OLD PC)'s contents only and offers them to be transferred. But i want sharing like i see in my college PCs, through network neighbourhood, i saw all pcs and just double clicked on any system and whoa! i saw all its partitions.

[NOTE: USING ubuntu Live CD on one laptop i was able to "see" the other xp pc's partitons and printers, but when clicked on them it asked me username and password. I didnt know what these were, and even on giving xp's useraccounts and passwords the user and password dialog continued popping up. I couldnt see anything beyond partitions hence.]

3. Now tell me how can i do same thing with both XP systems. I have joined this cable (see picture 3) pc to pc. But now what! can anybody tell me how to proceed and start sharing files as explained in 2.

4. Any third party softwares who can do this work efficently are welcome.

5. Frankly i dont have any idea of networking and all, but as a Electronics engineering student i want some. Please tell my any good books/ebooks/links if you know that help me in expanding my little or zero knowlegde.

Thanks!

[MaxPY]

tere router me ethernet port kitne hai...

if you have four ports you can connect four PCs

Ref Book : Networking Essential "Microsoft"

www@thepiratebay@org
www@mininova@org
www@demonoid@com

[anispace]

U need to use a Ethernet crossover cable.

[sabu_soman]

try this
connect two pcs each other with a crossover cable
open the network connection
change the ip address in tcp/ip 192.168.0.1
and the second computer same and in tcp/ip 192.168.0.2
alsos use this command in dos ping 192.168.0.1 in each other

[acewin]

no need of crossover cable for new laptops I think.

Besides if there are 4 ports in the router then there is no need of doing anything except enabling your share.

Besides when you are talking about crossover explain the person what i is.
3 days old post, guys atleast do a little search on the board How can i use wifi or inbuilt lan to play games between laptop and PC ?

and another thread explaining things by infra_red setup a home wifi-lan, share internet connection