ZEDEX The School Networking Solution!

As Schools purchase the latest technology, they  end up with a variety of computers over time.  This causes problems for networking. But not with Zedex. Zedex will work on Windows 98, Windows 95, Windows Me, Windows 2000 , and Windows XP. It even has a version which will work on Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups. The latest version of Mac's can login to the Zedex server, and older Mac's can do so also with additional software, called Dave.  Imagine all of those systems all being networked into the same server at the same time. And this server only has to be a Windows 95 or 98(recommended) computer. 

Watch Zedex in action: Download and run the following Camtasia video: ZEDEX_INTRO.exe

|| Zedex || How to install Zedex || How to Set Up a Peer to Peer Network

|| Running programs from a server  || Zedex and Mac's  

|| Policy Editor || Download || Installing Programs on Workstations

|| Mozilla and Zedex  

Setting Up Microsoft Windows Networks for Windows for Workgroups

NEW: Ask questions or offer comments in our new discussion group at Google Groups: http://www.groups.google.com/group/zedex?hl=e

Just a short word of advice: The best way to network Windows for Workgroups is to upgrade to Windows 95/ 98/2000 or XP

Installing the network card.

    Physically install a compatible ethernet card and record the Interrupt number and Base I/O  (often IRQ = 5 and I/O of 300) that the card it set at. Some cards come with software that determines available (unused IRQ's and I/O's). Change the cards jumpers to what is available.  Some cards come with software to make those changes. Follow their instructions.

Installing the network cables.

    Next, connect computers to thin ethernet coaxial cable. Each card requires a T connector which usually comes with the card. Connect the computers and place Terminators on the end of the cable string.  If you are using Twisted pair ethernet cables, they must be connected to a Hub (concentrator).

Installing the Network and ethernet adapter card driver:

Note: If you have an ATI video driver installed, change the video driver back to VGA for the setup, and then change back to ATI after the setup.

Note: I'm writing this from memory so a few things may be out of order.

    Here I am assuming that you have Windows for Workgroups installed and only need to add Microsoft Windows Network software and the drivers for the ethernet card. If you are starting to install Windows from scratch, these same dialogue boxes will come up.

    At the run command type winsetup, or go to the control panel and select network.

    In the file menu select Change Network Settings

    You will get the Network Setup dialogue box that has three item for you to choose.

• Select Networks:   In the Networks dialogue box select the Radial button for Install Microsoft Windows Networks, select OK '

  

  At some point you will be asked to give the computer a name. This is important.  Each computer must have a unique name like: Bob, Ted, Unit5, WS23, or Matilda. Just leave the workgroup name as workgroup.

  Select the sharing button:  Select them for now. You can always unselect them later.

  

  Select the Drivers button:   In the network drivers dialogue box, select Add adapter.

  
  Assuming the your ethernet adapter card is not one listed, choose Unlisted or updated adapter card.

  
  At this point you will be required to install the floppy for your ethernet card in the A: drive.
  You may be asked which driver you want from a list that is on the floppy, Choose your driver.
  At times setup will ask for specific WFW floppies. At times you may have to help setup find specific files, by browsing or by directing them to a specific directory.  Most common locations on the floppy is A:\,  A:\wfw, A:\drivers, or A:\nt.  When Windows has loaded the necessary software it will come back to the network drivers dialogue box, you should see your driver as two protocols, IPX and NetBEUI. You really only need NetBEUI, so if you don't have any particular need for it you can select it and remove it now.

  

  Chick on the adapter card to select it and select Setup.  At this point you will be able to enter your IRQ number and I/O Port Number.

  

  Keep clicking OK until you are out of Setup. Windows will announce that it will update ini files and that you must reboot.

If Windows starts back up with no errors, go to File Manager.  If the button menu line has more icons in it, especially one with a folder with a little hand on it, then you are setup and ready to go.

Two primary reasons that it doesn't set up properly.
1) The computer does not have a unique name.  Make sure that no other computer has the same name.  To change the name, go to the Control Panel and select networks. Change the name.  Reboot to see if that corrected the problem.
2) The second major reason is that you have chosen an IRQ or I/O  that is used by some other resource.  Get yourself into the adapter card setup as you did before (see above). Keep selecting different IRQ's and I/O's until you find one that is not in conflict.
 

A very general word about protocols:

They all use memory, so only use what your need.
IPX is generally needed by other networks like Netware by Novell. With the importance of the internet, TCPIP would be the preferred protocol. So I suggest that you install TCPIP and remove IPX. 

However, TCPIP is not bundled with your Windows for Workgroups disks.  You will have to download that protocol over the internet.  You can download it here Directory of /peropsys/windows/public/tcpip
When you install TCPIP you will be required to give each computer a unique IP address. I suggest using the addresses 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.0.255 (changing only the last triplet).  These IP numbers are reserved for local networking.  The subnet mask for all is 255.255.255.0   These numbers will be compatible with Wingate or Dave if you choose to use these. Wingate will allow you to share one internet connection with all workstations on your network. Dave will allow Mac's to access the resources that are shared on a PC.

A Word about sharing resources

• The computer that is offering the resource must have enabled printer and file sharing (see above).
• The sharing of a resource is always a two step process.  First the computer that has the resource must offer it to be available to be shared. Second, other computers must connect to it.

Connecting  a printer so that all computers print to it

• Sharing the printer:  On the computer that has the printer attached (and setup with its software) run Print Manager. Click on your printer and select the Share Printer As Button (it is the printer held by a little hand) (or select it from the Printer menu).

  

  If these are not available, the network is not set up.
  Give the printer a name, like "HP" and select OK. Only add a password if you want to restrict use of this printer.

  

  Minimize Print manager.

  Connecting to the shared printer:  On the other computers, run Print Manager. Select the Connect Network Printer Button (printer with a little star) (or Connect Network Printer from the Printer menu).

  

  In the Path box type \\computer name\printer name
  i.e.  \\Unit5\HP  or \\matilda\HP

  

  
  Notice that the computer name always is preceded by a double back slash.

  You should also indicate that you want the computer to automatically reconnect on boot up and that the network printer is the default printer.

  Now when anyone uses this computer, any printing will be printed on HP that is connected to Zedex ( or whatever the name of the other computer)
   

Sharing a directory or a drive

• On the computer that has the directory:  Click on the directory that you want to share and then click on the Share Button (it's the folder with the little hand). 

  

  Select Share fully and add a password if you like.  For our example we will say that the name of this computer is zedex and the name of the directory is wordfile.

  

  Wordfile now shows up as being a shared file.

  

  On the computer that wants to connect to this share:  While in file manager, click on the Connect Network Drive Button (it has a little star with a network line).

  

  You will be offered a drive letter, so accept it or change it if you like.  In the path box type  \\computer name\directory name.  For our example type \\zedex\wordfile

  

  Select OK  Notice that the computer name is always preceded by a double back slash.

  Now you will see that directory come up as a drive letter.  More importantly, when running any application, this drive letter will be E: the drive box, and any file will be listed.

  

  You can also choose to reconnect at startup, so that that directory is always available.
   

Yes you can share the whole C: drive

Yes you can share the CD-ROM drive but you will have to make a change to the autoexec.bat file. To share a CD-ROM add /S to the CD-ROM driver line so that it ends up looking something like this:
 c:\windows\mscdex.exe /s /d:cdrom1 /l:d
 
Yes you can run programs that are on the drive of other computers but the necessary dll's must be in the local windows/system directory.  You will be expected to pay for a network license.

Yes you can run encyclopedias from one CD-ROM but the multi-media resources will be unreliable, depending on the traffic over the network. You will be expected to pay for a network license

Please let me know if there are any changes that need to be made to these directions. Did I miss anything?
Thanks,   Barry
 
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