now it is tomorrow, hehe :-)

i was thinking of something a little simpler if possible,,

oh... well forget about what I talked about earlier (using 1 cable
to connect 2 computers to a switch/router, instead of 2 cables),
Follow James Egans recommendations instead.

[my post here now is just if you need some extra explanations]

who had their two computers rigged up via one cable, one
computer was a win98 the other xp. the win98 computer was configured to
be the host and the other just needed the win98 oneto be on the internet
in order for it too to access the net.

yeah you can easily connect two computers to each other with a
network cable between them (normally the "crossover" kind but some
can use a normal one), and the one that have internet can let
the other one reach internet through it...

they were using dial-up, if that makes a difference.

....yes, because the old dial-up modems was normally connected to
a computer with a "serial cable", but the new broadband modems
are normally connected to a computer with a network cable instead,
and most computers only have 1 network jack. But if you are using
a network cable between your two computer - then you are allready
using the computers network jack for this....
There is no jack left on the computer to put the network cable
that comes from the broadband modem!

Now (to make things a little more complicated) there are broadband
modems that is connected to the computer with an USB-cable instead,
I haven't seen any, but there are some made that way - that's why
you must go check your dads broadbandmodems brand and modelnumber.
(so we know if it is an usb-broadbandmodem or a normal one)

[If it is the normal kind, there is the possibility of you buying an
extra network card and mount it inside one of your computers to give
it a second network jack - but if you never have opened your computer
then I wouldn't recommend that solution... buy a cheap router instead
even though it will costs three times as much as a network card (like
36$ instead of 12$) with the bonus that you can connect more computers
to it later if you like, and its firewall security]

what dad is hoping, is that we can buy a short length of this cable with
the correct plugs attached, then plug it into both computers, then
somehowconfigure them so they can both use the internet at the same time

the easy thing you must do first is to look at the back of the computer
if there is a free network jack, that isn't allready used up
by the cable that goes to the broadband modem :-)



----------------------------------------------------------------------
If the computer now (when it is connected to internet so webbrowser
works etc) have an empty network jack, and you want to use internet
sharing: then go buy the network cable (crossover type).

(I would still prefer a router.. but that's me!)

Microsoft's small guide to enable Internet Sharing for win98se is:
* Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel,
and then double-click Add/Remove Programs.
* On the Windows Setup tab, double-click Internet Tools.
* Click to select the Internet Connection Sharing check box, then click OK
* Click OK, and then follow the instructions on the screen to run the
Internet Connection Sharing wizard.



Now I allmost forgot: check if his broadband modem has any free
empty network jacks too.... if so it might have a router&switch
built in and you could just have a network cable from his second
computer go to that hole :-)