Network computer (2 computers)
Discussion
tuscan_v8 said:
My Dad is running small business with 2 computers that need to be connected to Quickbook and other software so both user can work on software at the same time.
What kind of hardware etc do we need?
Methinks you'll be infringing the licences of both the OS and the application software even if you get this to work.
PCs all come with network cards these days.
You can do a horrible dirty solution and connect them with a crossover cable, or do it well and buy a hub, and two straight cables.
A far better solution is to do it wirelessly. As far as sharing data and applications this should be very simple and will be included in the online help - also once you get to that stage someone will be able to talk you through it.
You can do a horrible dirty solution and connect them with a crossover cable, or do it well and buy a hub, and two straight cables.
A far better solution is to do it wirelessly. As far as sharing data and applications this should be very simple and will be included in the online help - also once you get to that stage someone will be able to talk you through it.
Not all versions of quickbooks support multiple simultaneous users - so I'd check that with quickbooks support if thats what you need.
Ps: I wouldnt be tempted by wireless for book keeping/file sharing, theres a fair chance you'l have greif with dropouts etc. and you really dont want a corrupt .qbw file at year end...
>> Edited by aldi on Monday 13th March 15:56
Ps: I wouldnt be tempted by wireless for book keeping/file sharing, theres a fair chance you'l have greif with dropouts etc. and you really dont want a corrupt .qbw file at year end...
>> Edited by aldi on Monday 13th March 15:56
If you mean by two monitors that you would both be working at the same time on the same pc then no you can't do this but you can connect two monitors and split the picture between them.
Agree with the hub and two patch cables/leads but steer clear of wireless. If you don't know what your doing you will be days and possibly leave your network insecure. I have a mobile phone that can connect to peoples wireless netwroks if they haven't secured it!!
Get some one in to do it for you. Even if both PC's dont have network cards it would only take a competent techie an hour to get you up and running.
And to work on he PC with the accounting package from the second PC - you need a remote control pacakge. Try VNC - this'll do what you want and its free and I've used it for years with no problems. Search for it on the web, there are different flavours, e.g tight VNC, RealVNC but all are pretty much the same.
Agree with the hub and two patch cables/leads but steer clear of wireless. If you don't know what your doing you will be days and possibly leave your network insecure. I have a mobile phone that can connect to peoples wireless netwroks if they haven't secured it!!
Get some one in to do it for you. Even if both PC's dont have network cards it would only take a competent techie an hour to get you up and running.
And to work on he PC with the accounting package from the second PC - you need a remote control pacakge. Try VNC - this'll do what you want and its free and I've used it for years with no problems. Search for it on the web, there are different flavours, e.g tight VNC, RealVNC but all are pretty much the same.
Networking... ahhh the bane of my life.
Avoid WiFi, it's very good and really handy but for business stuff you just can't rely on it. Even at home with everything secured and sat right next to the access point it'll sometimes just loose the network and then instantly find it again. Brilliant for surfing as it doesn't matter but it can kill VNC/downloads.
If you want to do two PC's in an office enviroment BOTH running quickbooks and such then I would advise you check with the software support people if the version you have purchased (or if indeed their is a version in existence you can purchase) that will allow two sperate people to access the same data at the same time; often the cheaper end of this market is single user only and it just will not allow two people to do this.
I would personally advise against getting the cheap option of using the second PC to just VNC in to the first; VNC is a handy remote control tool but it won't allow for two people to use the same peice of software at the sametime, all that will happen is the two people will just fight over the mouse cursor and get frustrated.
Your local rent-a-geek can knock up a simple little network in about an hour, tell them you want to use a hub/switch to allow for future expansion and they'll toddle off to get together some parts. But basically it's cat5 from each PC to the switch, set the TCP/IP settings in control panel -> network -> LAN to 192.168.0.1 and subnet to 255.255.255.0 on the first and 192.168.0.2 / 255.255.255.0 on the second. Start > Run > cmd and type ping 192.168.0.1 on the second and ping 192.168.0.2 on the first. If you get packets sent back they're talking.
Avoid WiFi, it's very good and really handy but for business stuff you just can't rely on it. Even at home with everything secured and sat right next to the access point it'll sometimes just loose the network and then instantly find it again. Brilliant for surfing as it doesn't matter but it can kill VNC/downloads.
If you want to do two PC's in an office enviroment BOTH running quickbooks and such then I would advise you check with the software support people if the version you have purchased (or if indeed their is a version in existence you can purchase) that will allow two sperate people to access the same data at the same time; often the cheaper end of this market is single user only and it just will not allow two people to do this.
I would personally advise against getting the cheap option of using the second PC to just VNC in to the first; VNC is a handy remote control tool but it won't allow for two people to use the same peice of software at the sametime, all that will happen is the two people will just fight over the mouse cursor and get frustrated.
Your local rent-a-geek can knock up a simple little network in about an hour, tell them you want to use a hub/switch to allow for future expansion and they'll toddle off to get together some parts. But basically it's cat5 from each PC to the switch, set the TCP/IP settings in control panel -> network -> LAN to 192.168.0.1 and subnet to 255.255.255.0 on the first and 192.168.0.2 / 255.255.255.0 on the second. Start > Run > cmd and type ping 192.168.0.1 on the second and ping 192.168.0.2 on the first. If you get packets sent back they're talking.
everybody is slagging Wifi, but our experience isn't that bad.
we run one location from a single Wifi point (an old Belkin WAP plugged into an ADSL router). From that we have 3 servers about 150 feet away in another building over a WET11 Linksys wireless bridge (absolute limit on the range though). My machine is about 100 feet away from the wap, another workstation is connected via another ethernet bridge. You get the occasional problem, but generally its pretty good.
a second office runs a wireless access point as well, and the account are stored on a laptop that connects in (encrypted) wirelessly to its WAP. I can vnc onto that box from my machine no problems at all.
some people have torrid times with wireless. some dont.
we run one location from a single Wifi point (an old Belkin WAP plugged into an ADSL router). From that we have 3 servers about 150 feet away in another building over a WET11 Linksys wireless bridge (absolute limit on the range though). My machine is about 100 feet away from the wap, another workstation is connected via another ethernet bridge. You get the occasional problem, but generally its pretty good.
a second office runs a wireless access point as well, and the account are stored on a laptop that connects in (encrypted) wirelessly to its WAP. I can vnc onto that box from my machine no problems at all.
some people have torrid times with wireless. some dont.
If you want to run wireless then you will be better off running a router that
can act as an access point. I have spent many hours trying to connect two machines
directly on a peer to peer basis using wireless and never cracked it. The access
point solution in my experience is completely reliable. I've done overnight downloads
accross a wireless link and all day vpn/RDC sessions without any problems at all using
a pretty standard wireless adsl setup.
can act as an access point. I have spent many hours trying to connect two machines
directly on a peer to peer basis using wireless and never cracked it. The access
point solution in my experience is completely reliable. I've done overnight downloads
accross a wireless link and all day vpn/RDC sessions without any problems at all using
a pretty standard wireless adsl setup.
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