Point-to-point networking

[David R. Kohel]

Thanks to suggestions from this list I now have a 3Com ISA
and LinkSys PCI card working in one box.  It is currently 
networked through a central hub, and either card works.

After this initial success, I tried to hook up to a RedHat 
DEC Alpha with built-in ethernet card.  I thought I could 
just plug the two together with twisted pair cable.  
Susequently I thought that I had been naive, that I needed 
a hub between the two.  I admit am a network newbie, but can 
read HOWTO's.  On this point I didn't find any clear information.  
The LinkSys card's manual says it is not advisable to connect 
two "PC's" together without a hub, as the connection might 
be "unstable".

After failing to get PLIP working (I've used this to connect 
to my laptop for some time and never had a problem before), 
I just spoke to someone in a computer shop who told me that 
yes, with dual ethernet cards I can just daisy-chain the 
computers without a hub.  Is this correct?

I might mention that when I plug the LinkSys card into the 
hub, the green light goes on, but connecting to the DEC, 
it stays off :-).  [ The other points don't have nice red 
and green lights. ]

Everything: IP addresses, ifconfig, routing, looks fine, but 
I don't have a link between these machines.  Setting the 
appropriate IP address, I can plug either into the central 
hub but have only one line.  Suggestions?

--David