HOW TO NETWORK A COMPUTER??

[manhattan]

I expect there are some amongst you who will say "can't he even do that?" Fair enough, but I have had no need until now. If you could give me a quick rundown on the procedure, I would be very grateful.
I am hoping to use the second pc for my left and right side views to perhaps take the pressure off the main pc and help with frame rates. Is this realistic? any suggestions? How much can the second pc handle? It was my previous main pc so is pretty powerful. Examples of use would be really helpful.

Thanks as usual.

TONY Plymouth UK

[jonesthesoftware]

Hi Tony
2 options
1... connect both PC's to a hub or switch using a standard network cable from each PC network card.
2... connect the 2 PC's together using a "network crossover cable" with no hub or switch

Pros and cons to both
option 1 is easiest as using a switch/hub will mean that the PC's get their TCP/IP addresses assigned to them automatically by the switch/hub. If you use any of these PC's to connect to the internet this is the best option. It's possible that different addresses could be assigned each time you power them up though if the network connection settings for your PC's are set at auto assigned addresses.

option 2 is the most consistent approach as you MUST assign the IP addresses to each computer manually (in the same IP group) but they will always be the same at power up. This can be useful for when you use addon programmes which run on 1 PC but need to get data from the other and need the IP address of the other PC. No internet connection here though.

Personally I use option 1 as it makes it easy to update your software (e.g FSUIPC just got updated yesterday!)
I have FSX on PC 1 and I use Wideview on the second PC for the outside views (2 TVs via TH2GO) but for this I followed the Wideview manual and used the IPX protocol for the networking between the PCs as this doesn't interfere with the internet.

Use your most powerful PC for the outside views as they are the most graphic intensive especially at airports. Use the least powerful for the instrument displays as hardly anything moves on these screens. On this PC turn everything down to minimum settings in FS as you will only have certain screens being used
hope this helps
regards
geoff

[deskpilot]

qeoff< I was reading your thread and I am very interested in what you said about networking your computers. Will this work with FSX? and if so could you post a diagram for connecting the two together. I am currently running FSX on one computer with three (3) video cards. My sim is using a total of six (6) monitors, two of the monitors are connected to a DH2G. The problem I am having is that when I undock my new view and drag it to another screen, FSX shuts down. All three video cards show up in the options menu in FSX.
Thank you
Deskpilot:

[manhattan]

qeoff< I was reading your thread and I am very interested in what you said about networking your computers. Will this work with FSX? and if so could you post a diagram for connecting the two together. I am currently running FSX on one computer with three (3) video cards. My sim is using a total of six (6) monitors, two of the monitors are connected to a DH2G. The problem I am having is that when I undock my new view and drag it to another screen, FSX shuts down. All three video cards show up in the options menu in FSX.
Thank you
Deskpilot:

Hi Geoff.

I use a similar setup to you, but I am on FS2004 which is far more flexible than FSX and I am surprised that you can use 6 monitors? I use 3 to go for the outside view, 3 monitors for the instrument displays and two monitors for the side views. My frame rates are in the region of 150. I am told that this is due to me using FS2004.
If you like flying, but are not fussed about facilities offered by FSX, then this is the way to go.

Rgds Tony.