If anybody in the Mountain View area (about 25 miles south of San Francisco) that is knowledgeable and competent at setting up and configuring computer networks and entertainment systems would like to earn $100, I would love to have you come and visit me.

What I have is a PC running Vista that I'd like to switch over to XP (I have the XP disk) and get it talking to SWMBOs Macintosh. Internet is through a cable modem. I'd like to share her files and her printer, although the latter is probably not going to happen because it is a USB printer. Currently we share internet connectivity through a router that is hard wired but has wireless capability. There is a Panasonic LCD TV set (not a HD set), a Generation 2 TiVo (I think it is Gen 2) without an Ethernet connection. Telephone service is VOIP through the cable modem, and it appears that the TiVo and the Fax machine will not operate this way, although I am not certain of that. Oh, and I'd like to get my empeg talking to my PC through Ethernet (it works OK with USB).

I am way over my head with all this stuff, and no amount of explanations from helpful, well-meaning folks is gonna get me through it.

So, I'll pay $100 if someone can come and do it for me, I'll throw in dinner at a nice restaurant and a tank of gasoline to cover travel.

Can anyone help?

tanstaafl.

Good news: You will be able to get the PC using the Mac's USB printer if you're willing to either leave them both on, or turn them both on before use.

Or you can buy one of those little ethernet-to-usb printer sharing boxes so the mac doesn't have to be left on. I've had mediocre experience with them (tricky to configure and keep them working but you're going to be paying someone to do that for you).

The tricky and time-consuming part is going to be downgrading that PC to windows XP (specifically getting all the hardware drivers working properly). You might be paying someone the 100.00 for that alone, and another day's session for all the other stuff.

Agreed. There's a good 2 hours 'dead time' watching XP and all its updates install. Ideally you'd be in a position to let the person doing the work take the PC away for a day or two. That way they can monitor the install progress and make the occasional keypress/mouse click while essentially getting on with other things.

I agree with that. I basically do this sort of thing now, and I'd be more willing to charge about $100 for that if I was able to take the box home. If I was sitting in your house doing it, it would be at least double that, probably. Sorry I'm not in your area, I'd do it for free.

That's not even the time consuming part. The time consuming part is getting all the hardware drivers working correctly, reinstalling every application and making sure *they* work, and getting all the user's data files and configuration settings back to where they belong.

The Apple Airport Express might be handy for this. It can join an ethernet or wireless network, shares the printer out via bonjour, and comes with Windows bonjour software. No IP configuration at all for the printer, and no worrying about changing IPs later.


Unfortunately Doug already has decent hardware otherwise I'd recommend replacing it with a Mac. Even as a Windows machine. I just reloaded my laptop recently, and installing Windows along with all the drivers was painless with the Leopard disc. It really reminds me of the nice Windows installs that were possible on Gateway machines in the late 90s. Automated driver installs of everything, clean install off a stock Windows disk and no extra crap.

While it doesn't address the application and user data process, it's at least a quick start.

I agree that Boot Camp is painless, but it's not 100% clean. It ends up installing drivers for all possible hardware, regardless of which system you have. Not a huge deal, but it ought to be tidier.

not to mention that the retarded touchpad drivers don't support tapping on the pad to click. ARGH!

Oh yeah. I forgot about that. Pain in the ass.

Okay... let's take the XP upgrade off the table. I'm not ready to do that at this time in any case -- all my software (except for the XP disk) is locked up in my schoolbus/moving van, in one of about 100 more or less anonymous boxes and I'm not in a position to go digging through it now.

Just get my TV set/TiVo, my PC/Macintosh network, and my empeg/Ethernet working and I'll be happy.

tanstaafl.