Cross-platform happy love fun

[mmcirvin]

Mac OS X really can access SMB file sharing on Windows XP computers pretty seamlessly. I had been hoping that it could actually use Rendezvous to find the server without assistance, but no such luck. Still, it wasn't hard.

This is nice. Previously samantha2074 and I had transferred files to one another mostly by e-mailing them, which seemed pretty dumb over the same LAN. I suppose FTP also works; I've used it to get files from my Mac onto a Mac OS 9 laptop.

In other news, I like kitties and they are fuzzy.

Comments

[urbeatle.livejournal.com]

Samantha could also try running TinyWeb to put up a LAN-only webserver. it's what I use to show a picture or mp3 to people on ARKMoo, when I don't want to actually put it up permanent on my website.

dunno if there's a Mac equivalent to it or not.

Re:

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Mac OS X comes with Apache installed. So I'd just have to switch it on; our LAN's firewall would take care of preventing any external requests (I could also do that in other ways). That's an option I hadn't thought of.

[sunburn.livejournal.com]

It still seems like all the really robust file-transfer options (mainly FTP, but also HTTP) are client-server setups, which is why nobody uses them on LANs, because why set up a server-- I'm right here, across the room/apartment/house!

I was going to suggest some IM software, but I'm not sure how much of that requires the file to pass through a master server (and hence twice through your internet bridge)-- even p2p stuff probably gets a little sketchy when there's a master server that sees both of your computers at the same IP.

One option would be that program whose name I can't think of, but it was created by the Nullsoft guy who allegedly pisses AOL off every 4 minutes. He created a p2p program that only works as a private network, so you can share files among known friends only. Aha, it's called "Waste." But if you have it properly configured, and your firewall nailed shut, even a regular gnutella variant might be good.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

As it turns out there's nothing much to accessing SMB sharing. You just have to know the server name (IP address will work) and the share name, which you apparently set up on the PC when you enable sharing. I think it's easier for the Mac to access directories on the PC than the other way around.

The complexities come in when trying to share with PCs (and Macs) running old operating systems, such as Windows 98/ME.