On 5 May 2010 05:04:45 GMT, "DoN. Nichols"
wrote:

On 2010-05-04, pyotr filipivich wrote:
Wes on Mon, 03 May 2010 18:07:59 -0400
typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:
pyotr filipivich wrote:

I have a network cable, but apparently one cannot simply plug it
into the two ports on computers and make a simple home network. Now
_that_ is dumb. I'm updating the Sneakernet protocols to work with a
thumb drive. "Windows - it just works."

[ ... ]

Actually a hub or multiport repeater would be easiest.

H,mmmm, can I plug a usb cable into one machine, a hub into the
other, and then plug the USB from the one machine into the USB hub in
the other?

Well, yes, I can, but will it work the way I want it? I'd really
hate to find I'm dividing by zero and creating a black hole or a Higgs
boson generator, or some other minor catastrophe.

I strongly doubt that you could make it work unless you are
into writing USB driver software. Unless you can find someone who
wrote it and is offering it for sale or for free.

Just pick up a little 4-port ethernet hub. The software is
there for you in just about any OS which will run in the hardware with
the ethernet ports installed.

The first thing to come up on an eBay search for "ethernet hub"
is:

190393069147

a four-port hub 10BaseT (the older, slower form) for $1.99 (but only 20
minutes to go, so probably gone by the time you see this.

Here's a faster five-port one:

130387027304

starting at $0.01 (and $17.00 shipping. :-)

If USB sneakernet is fast enough for you, the 10Base-T speed would
be blazingly fast by comparison.

Anything which will work with 100BaseT will also work with
10BaseT -- just be slower.

Good Luck,
DoN.
USB file transfer IS possible - lots of companies advertise and sell
the cables, and I believe it is directly supported by Win XP. (Windows
EZ Transfer)
The cable has a driver chip of some sort in it though - not a simple
"twisted cable" connection.