Windoze 'Direct Cable connect' cable VS Parnet cable

[odin]

Are the above cables the same? Or have they different pin assignments?

[Ilwrath]

No-
AFAIK, when Windows says "Direct cable connect" they mean a null modem cable on COM2 (serial port).

I don't believe Windows will support anything other than a printer over parallel without custom drivers and software being installed.

[Castellen]

"Direct cable connect" means physically connecting two machines, it
could be serial, parallel, ethernet or whatever.

Yes there is some kind of parallel networking thing you can do on PCs,
I'm not sure if it's compatible with Parnet or if there are any
AmigaOS clients.

In the past I've used a serial null modem cable and run TwinExpress on
both machines.
You can't share directories and mount devices  as you can with Parnet,
but you can read/write/delete files on the remote machine plus copy
files between local and remote machines.  You use it like
AmigaDOS/MSDOS depending on which terminal you're looking at.

I've got MSDOS and AmigaOS versions here if you need them.

[Castellen]

Yeah, windows saying "direct cable connect" has a completely different
meaning to anyone else saying it
In that case it's TCP/IP over null modem.  Never tried to network
Amiga to PC that way, but I imagine it would be possible with Miami
and probably AmiTCP.

[odin]

Well it's for my bro who wants to copy some files from his old peecee to his new peecee. As I've got a parnet cable somewhere I thought I could use that cable for the windoze thingy. But does anyone know if I can do that? Otherwise I could also use the makeshift nullmodem cable I've got.

[Ilwrath]

@Castellen -
Yep....  Windows love to change names of things!

@Odin-
No, you'd have to use the makeshift nullmodem.  (Actually, make sure it's a real nullmodem cable, and not just a gender changer...  no sense blowing a CIA over this!)  The Parnet cable isn't useful to the PC, unless there is some custom driver that I don't know about.

[odin]

Ta ilwrath.

Just been through all the boxes and closets. Seems I have my cable collection still at my parents' place :-).

But is the 'direct cable connect' a proper tcp/ip connection? Would come in handy, have a laptop here but no PCMCIA network card. Oh and btw I wont blow any CIAs over this cos I'm only trying to connect peecees, my 1200 has a nice AriadneII :-).

[Castellen]

There was some PC parallel network thing once, I think it might have
used a Parnet cable, but TBH I can't remember the details.

Easiest way in your case is definately null modem and use windows
direct cable connect.
If you can't find one, the cables are easy to make.  There are two
ways to do it, the simpler uses 3 wires and a few links at each DB9
connector.

I remember some a$$h**e once plugged a parallel cable into my A600's
serial port with a gender changer once.  Blew up my poor computer, so
I had to replace one of the CIAs.  Sucked a bit being surface mount,
but it's still going strong

[jumpship]

I used to connect my two win98 machines together via the parrallel ports and DCC. I also used the same cable to PARNET my win98 machine and my amiga together.

The cable was one designed for Windows DCC, but also worked with parnet, so i don't see any problems going the other way round.... But don't quote me on it ;-)