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Would a USB -> USB cable work for this??

3 Answers3

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The easiest options are (in rough order of practicality):

  • connect both devices to the same hub/switch/router via Ethernet - easiest option if you have Internet via ADSL or cable, then you usually already have a switch/router
  • connect both devices to the same WLAN network (similar to first option, just wireless instead of wired)
  • cross-over ethernet connection (may need a special "cross-over" cable, modern systems will do this automatically)
  • USB-to-USB connection; this requires a special cable however, as pointed out by Moab, and special software

Desperate options:

  • Parallel-to-parallel (aka LapLink) cable
  • serial-to-serial (aka nullmodem) cable

Both are very slow, and have little software support on modern OSes (though they can be made to work, at least under Linux)

In practice, I'd always advise to use option 1 (connect both devices to a router/switch), unless this is totally impractical. That gives you a standard network connection, which is what most software expects.

sleske
  • 23,525
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No, you need a special usb cable and software like this one

http://www.cablestogo.com/product.asp?cat_id=1504&sku=39977

Moab
  • 58,769
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Yes, it would. But if you connected them via an ad-hoc WiFi network, there might be more things that you can accomplish like file sharing / media streaming etc.

Sparx
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