Connectix DoubleTalk 1.1

There are quite a few people who use a PC at work, but have a Mac desktop or notebook at home.

Getting Macs and PCs to talk to each other can be a bit fiddly at times. There are some useful cross-platform networking products, such as Dave from Thursby Software, but you really need to know a fair bit about networking to use them.

DoubleTalk is designed for the less technically minded Mac user who works in a PC-dominated environment. It's not a large-scale networking system, and is primarily intended to help users connect a single Mac to a PC network.

The software is installed on the Mac and creates a new control panel where you can specify the various network settings. If you're not too sure about this the program includes a Startup Assistant that will guide you through the initial set up procedure.

The Startup Assistant provides two main options for setting up DoubleTalk. You can connect to a large server-based PC network, in which case the Mac can login to the server as just another client and access file servers and network printers.

If you've got a smaller peer-to-peer network then DoubleTalk allows the Mac to be recognised as a member of the network group so it can access shared directories or printers attached to PCs. You can also create a direct connection between a single Mac and a single PC by using an Ethernet crossover cable.

Setting up DoubleTalk on a Mac is no problem at all and we were soon able to start swapping files between our iMac and PCs on a small network. The manual skims over the Windows side of things, though, so it may be handy to have a PC user available to help if you get confused by Windows' networking options.

Specifications:

• Allows a single Mac to connect to PC networks or to a single PC
• Can connect to client-server or peer-to-peer networks
• Provides automatic or manual log-in options
• Password protected log-in.

Minimum requirements: Mac running OS 8.1 or later with Ethernet interface; one or more PCs.

Contact: Computers Unlimited 020 8358 5857 www.connectix.com

See also:

LapLink PCsync 3.0

Useful collection of tools marred by a lack of management features.  17 Jul 2002

Connectix Virtual PC 4

Mac users can now get their hands on Windows applications.  01 Apr 2001

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