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I have two macs right next to each other. They are both on the same network and I can see both of them with a KVM switch and VNC (when the KVM is too annoying). However, I'd like a faster network connection between them, perhaps with low security. Is it possible to somehow use a cross-over cable to connect them, and then share things ONLY through that connection? Would that be faster, generally speaking, than my Wifi network (router is 5 years old at least)?
2You don't need a special cable, the network cards can do the wire crossing on their own. Also, if you have Firewire on both sides, a host-to-host Firewire cable is a possibility (and might even be faster than Ethernet). – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil' – 2010-10-11T19:24:05.550
@Gilles holy cow, I had no idea... that explains why I can't find a cross-over cable at any of the local shops! I was just about to order it... regarding firewire, that's a great possibility too. I'll check that out right now (I hope that a host-to-host cable is not special in any sense). – Dan Rosenstark – 2010-10-12T15:14:27.870
@Gilles, firewire rocks, but is there any way to STOP the network sharing from happening on the Wifi connection? I only want to share via firewire. – Dan Rosenstark – 2010-10-12T15:24:02.823
2Every FireWire device is expected to be smart enough to control the connection, so there's no such thing as a specific "host-to-host" cable; all FireWire connections are host-to-host. – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams – 2010-10-12T15:40:37.963
@Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams, thanks! I actually just hooked it up and tried it, worked with a Firewire 400 cable with no setup at all. But now I want to try Ethernet because I think it will be about 2+ times as fast. I only have Firewire 400 on one of the computers. – Dan Rosenstark – 2010-10-12T15:57:57.893
Thanks all, I tried Ethernet and it's so fast that a drive mounted on the other computer via Firewire 800 is faster than a drive mounted inside my Macbook... amazing! – Dan Rosenstark – 2010-10-12T21:30:45.637