RJT> As of today,  I've only found three network cards 
 RJT> (apparently from Artisoft?) where there were supposed 
 RJT> to be four,  and finally got my hands on the disks 
 RJT> that they were planning to use -- all of which are 
 RJT> prominently labeled "Two User Version"!
 RJT> That isn't going to work for three machines,  is it?     
No, but like it says, you can connect two computers with with it.
 RJT> On the other hand,  at least one of the machines is 
 RJT> currently running WFWG 3.11 and I'm about to install 
 RJT> it on another machine,  so there's some potential 
 RJT> there.
WFGW will work fine. Keep in mind that the networking is built into WFWG. For 
a particular computer to share resources on the network, Windows must be 
running. If the user exits WFWG to DOS to run a program, that computers 
resources can no longer be shared on the network. WFWG comes with a DOS 
client that will allow that computer to connect to other net resources from 
DOS though. Whatever computers you are going to use as file/print servers 
-must- always be running WFWG. Also, you need more than 4meg of RAM to share 
resources with WFWG. 8 is probably the minimum. WFWG when setup as a 
file/print server will need about 2.3meg of RAM just for the networking. It's 
clean, cheap and simple and works fairly well. Windows 95 is much better and 
faster peer to peer networking than WFWG and more stable, but WFWG is ok. 
WFWG and W95 will connect to each other just fine, so you can mix them. 
Expect a 10-30% slowdown in running desktop applications from a WFWG system 
that is setup as a file server as compared to a Windows system that is not a 
file/print server. If the guy is trying to connect 386's or slow 486's he 
might be disappointed in desktop performance. 
 RJT> Upgrading the Lantastic software is one option.  I 
 RJT> need to get a handle on what that costs so I can go to 
Lantastic is a dead end network. If you are going to spend money on 
networking software, upgrade to Windows 95. Don't bother with Lantastic. 
Artisoft is making a valient effort to keep lantastic alive, but the 
handwriting is on the wall for that product. Better to either stick with 
WFWG, or buy more memory and go with Windows 95 if you want something more 
for networking than WFWG.
 RJT> Or,  from what I understand,  WFWG allows some sort of "networking" 
 RJT> potential there,  but I don't know anything about it,  
 RJT> never having used it before.  Is it usable for some 
 RJT> simple file and printer sharing?  If it's looking at 
 RJT> all usable in this context,  what kind of limitations 
WFWG is probably as simple of a network to setup as there is. Does 
file/printer sharing, has Mail, Chat, NetDDE, etc. If you don't know much 
about networking, and are trying to setup a network for someone, WFWG is as 
simple as it gets. You need to figure out what model number network cards 
they have and be sure that WFWG has drivers to support them. Should work fine 
if you can configure them as NE2000 cards and know the base address and IRQ 
of each card.
 RJT> am I looking at and when would it be practical to move 
 RJT> to something else?  (In other words,  if this guy's 
 RJT> gotta spend some more money I need to be able to go to 
 RJT> him and tell him _why_ he needs to spend some more 
 RJT> money...   :-)
Hee Hee, it amazes me that usually sharp intelligent people running small 
business's will have thousands and thousands of dollars tied up in computer 
hardware and software and want to do networks for a dime, usually done by 
some one that doesn't know much about what he is doing. I've seen cheap 
shitty cobbeled together lanstastic, novell lite and WFWG networks bring a 
small business to it's knees because of horsing around trying to do it for 
under 200 bucks and using old network cards they found laying around etc. 
False economy if you put a value on employees time and a business's  
productivity. There is probably a good reason that you found those network 
cards and two user lantastic laying around not in use at his business. Some 
other "consultant" evidently was there before you.
--- Maximus/NT 3.01b1
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