AIM help?
 

I use AIM once in while - I'm not on much, but I do use it.

The problem I have is with "directly connecting" to send an image or file or whatever.

I am running a home network with a laptop and desktop. Neither computer is Master or Slave - they both connect directly to the internet through a router.

I use a D-Link wireless router, and the desktop is wired in with Ethernet cable, while the laptop has the wireless card.

Something about AIM won't let me direct connect to anyone. A buddy says its due to the way my network is configured - because there is no master or slave. Something about individual IPs or whatever.

I don't know all the details - I just want to know if there is a simple way to make this stuff work without re-configuring my little network - which took me several hours to get working and I don't want to see get fucked up.

Any ideas?

~HH

Man, that sucks. Sucks even more for me because I bought a LInksys wireless router and never got it to work..Now its under my bed. Waste of money.

What's wrong with the LinkSys?

I found that setting up a network is not all that difficult, but there are certain things that the network "wizard" doesn't tell you (WinXP). Seems XP is set up with all the security settings "on" by default, and if you don't shut certain things off, you get no networking.

Took me a while the first time, including some guesswork; "Hmm...what happens if I uncheck this thing, even though I have no idea what it is...." ;)

~HH

your linksys router causes all of your computers within your internal network to go through a NAT connection... the linksys does its job by routing those NAT connections to your original TCP/IP connection... in a nutshell, NAT acts as a firewall, and anything that requires a direct connection will not work with a firewall... the fix to this is to setup a "demilitarized" connection to one of your computers... this will allow that computer to direct connect, but all firewall functionalities/protections will be lost... your other computer still won't direct connect though.... in theory you could also setup port redirection on the router, but it is a major PITA especially when AIM direct connects uses a dynamic pool of ports... don't bother with that... just setup a "demilitarized" computer (you enter the IP of the computer you want to have that)