# Connecting a Mini Tower to a laptop



## antoniohawk (Jul 9, 2002)

I was wondering if it was possible to connnect a mini tower to a laptop, to add another hardrive and more memory to make the laptop run faster. if i stuck a game in the tower would it use the memory from the tower, the memory from the laptop or both. As soon as some1 posts a reply to my questions, i will ask others. So if u post plz look back for more questions to answer


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## TheTechIsIn (May 7, 2002)

Welcome to the board,

umm Do you mean you want to map the towers hard drive space to your laptop? You could do that, but you cannot share physical memory between two systems. The only addressable memory in each system will come from Virtual memory in Windows and Physically installed memory on the motherboard. You cannot use 128 of one system plus your 128 on your laptop to give you 256 on your laptop if thats what you mean. The same goes for processor speeds and video memory.


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## antoniohawk (Jul 9, 2002)

I want to connect a tower to the laptop as sort of a way of upgrading it. for example i might put a cd burner in it, since the laptop doesnt have one. Forget about the memory thing. How about the harddrive?


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## antoniohawk (Jul 9, 2002)

what do u mean map?


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## Doonz (Jun 13, 2002)

Huh???

A hard drive from a laptop and (with an adapter) put into a desktop....but I dont see how you can combine the resouces of a desktop and a laptop....there are switches that allow for the keyboard to be used for either or...as well as the monitor but...


I dont belive you can have a PII 200 laptop and put it with a PII 200 desktop ang get a PIV 400.....system


p.s welcome to the board....


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## antoniohawk (Jul 9, 2002)

ppl plz ignore the memory. im not connecting to a desktop, just a tower. i want the laptop to have another harddrive and a cd burner. What do i need to do this beside the tower and the laptop?

Thx for the help so far though


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## antoniohawk (Jul 9, 2002)

comon ppl more help needed


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## Doonz (Jun 13, 2002)

OH....you want to network them so they can share resouces....Ill give the quick answer then the other can expand on it (they do it alot better)

Network interface cards -1 for each computer
cables to connect to something else....like 
a hub/switch/router to share the connections and internet access

you also can do direct serial prot to serial port but i have never done it that way...


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## TheTechIsIn (May 7, 2002)

Yep thats what I meant by mapping the drive from one system to another, through the network that doonze was nice enough to lay out for you.


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## antoniohawk (Jul 9, 2002)

so if i network them they can share resources? What about sharing video and sound cards. Oh and i want to play videos from my laptop to my tv. i dont have a video out thingy on the laptop, but what if there was one on the tower. i have a dvd drive on the lap, can i play movies on my lap then have them show on my bigscreen?


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## JAMMAN (Apr 27, 2002)

Oh, yes! yes! yes! For a price..........

2 cards and a hub. About 100.00 total to go cheap (the card for the laptop will cost the most)


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## antoniohawk (Jul 9, 2002)

how do i connect the tower to the laptop if i dont use a network, cant i just use a cable?


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## failghe (Jul 6, 2002)

Can't he use two network cards ($10 each on sale) with a crossover cable? Saves the price of the hub or switch.


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## JAMMAN (Apr 27, 2002)

> Can't he use two network cards ($10 each on sale) with a crossover cable? Saves the price of the hub or switch.


No. He can use one card for the tower @ 10.00. The laptop requires a different kind of card (PCMCIA) at about 45.00 last time I bought one. The hub is a necessity, you cannot plug cat5 rj45 cables from computer to computer. You might be thinking of the older ethernet coax with bnc connectors (still available) but runs 10 times slower. Direct cable connections are slower yet.

compiled-

Card for tower- an optomistic 10.00
card for laptop- 45.00
Hub for a 5 computer net max 42.00 (bought one last week)

Ok, so it wasn't quite 100.00 but I was close.

Unlimited sharing of drives and internet. Priceless.


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## Midnight Tech (Dec 31, 2001)

Jam, I have run SEVERAL 2 computer nets connected with just a crossover cable. Just make sure that you use the "allowed" IP's that will not show up on the internet(192.168.0.0 thru 192.168.255.255). This way if you ever do go online with them, there will be no IP conflicts with your ISP.


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## JAMMAN (Apr 27, 2002)

Seriously? OK, I'll try it tomorrow and see. 

Has anyone else done this with cat5/rj45?


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## TheTechIsIn (May 7, 2002)

Nope, never, I didn't know it could be done, and haven't every tried to do it. Always needed to connect more than 2 machines anyway, and if it could be done we have to be talking about loss of performance or something.


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## opti6600 (Jul 13, 2002)

*Crossover*

Never done a crossover connection? The things are lifesaves. I actually keep a crossover cable in my backpack for quick school connections and such. The iBRICK sometimes needs a good sync.


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## JAMMAN (Apr 27, 2002)

Ok, your ad got my attention. What is an iBRICK? I'm sure you are dying to tell us.........


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## opti6600 (Jul 13, 2002)

Definition of iBRICK:

A Compaq iPAQ with an expansion pack. If you have ever seen one, it essentially looks like an expensive black brick. It just isnt as durable.


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## JAMMAN (Apr 27, 2002)

Welcome to the forum- but these words are not generally in my vocabulary-

1. Compaq..........

2. AOL

3. Packard bell

4. Win95

5. Country and western music

X(


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## opti6600 (Jul 13, 2002)

I would certainly agree. I still hate Compaq, even though I own about $1000 worth of their products, and have purchased almost $2000 worth of Compaq hardware.

The only reason I deal with the problems it gives me is that its the only PDA that can handle what I need it to do, and its one of the few that doesnt fall apart when you use it the way I do (im a high school student).

I've slapped a 2 gig hard drive and a wireless network card/bluetooth card on it, and it works pretty well, and along with an ericsson T68m, it works wonders for school.


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## definder (Apr 27, 2002)

*firewire*

to get a faster connection use firewire
if u havn't got firewire use 10/100 mbs ethernetcards and just connect cable (utp)
greetz 
arnold hilberink


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## JAMMAN (Apr 27, 2002)

*I stand corrected*

Hey- I don't usually dig up old posts but this is for educational purposes.

A couple days ago I helped a friend (yes I do have a couple) set up a two computer network using a single cable between the rj45 sockets. You can't use a regular cable, you have to buy what is called a "crossover"cable which looks identical but has a couple of wires crossed. 

At the beginning of this thread I would have lost money on a bet on this subject. The more you learn- the less you realize you know.

Peace-


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## Laffctx (May 24, 2002)

I have connected my sons laptop and my desktop together with a crossover before. Works great!

But, why do I get the feeling that this guy thinks he will be able to somehow upgrade his machine like this. Maybe I am misunderstanding or misreading between the lines here but he gives me the idea that he feels he is going to get some sort of upgrade for his laptop this way. Then again maybe I am all wet here too. Done it before.

Hope he gets done what he wants, whatever that is.

Laffctx


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## GabrielScarred (Jan 19, 2005)

*Please Help!!!! You may have the answer to a question I've had for some time now.*

I've been search for an answer to a question for some time now and I brought up this forum as a resault of my search, a question that is very closer to this user's question.
OK here it goes:
Is there any way to connect a tower to a laptop, use all the resorces strickly from the tower, but have the Hard Drive in the Laptop run as the towers system drive while still keeping the Hard Drive in the laptop so you can still use the laptop with that drive on the go?
If you can Please help!!!!

Thankyou, and sincerely indebted,
GabrielScarred


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