Help me please. Using a PC on two different LANS.

alphie

I am using a PC on a network to share an application plus printing. The network has a wireless broadband connection with the router ip address of 192.168.10.1, the isp will not allow changing of this ip address. The other workstsions are all set dynamic.

Now I need to connect via ip a till system to the application shared on this workstation that also requires the last digit of its ip address to be 1, eg. 192.168.1.1, this address also cannot be changed although it can be 192.168.whatever.1.

Now my question is how do I connect both these to the one workstation and keep my broadband, file and application sharing plus my print sharing. Someone suggested installing another network card i.e a second network card for use with the till system, would this work?

Many thanks for any help.

bishopLEN

Hi,
What broadband router is it? (Make model)

alphie

Its a netgear router, we are connected to a community broadband line of sight wireless scheme, the admnistartor will not under any circumstances allow the changing of the router ip address, he is very unreasonable.

liamo

I don't think he's being unreasonable. A gateway address is typically .1 or .254. Although it could be any address within the network range, it's better to be conventional - anything else can lead to misunderstandings and confusion.

What is unreasonable is a device or application that absolutely must have a particular host address - in this case, your till device - or is it the application on your PC? It's unclear which you mean.

Going on the assumption that the till device requires a host address of .1 :

1. Set the IP Address of the till device to 192.168.1.1
2. Add a second network to your PC
3. Set the IP Address of the second network card to 192.168.1.2

That's it.

Regards,

Liam

tomk

Forget about the router. Install a second NIC in the workstation, give it the address 192.168.1.2, and connect it to the till with a crossover cable.

<edit>
Overlap with liamo...:rolleyes:

alphie

Thanks for the help it’s greatly appreciated, I have to say though I have paid a lot of money for a till system plus a computer network with broadband. I think it’s very reasonable for me to expect the system I was promised by the company to work. I believe it is unreasonable for a company to turn around and basically tell you there is nothing they can do after having supplied both the tills and the broadband connection. If it was two different suppliers I would at least understand the situation but one company, sorry just not good enough.
Meanwhile here I am getting a solution to my problem from a forum and users like you who owe me nothing.
I am going back now to the supplier with this solution, I will post what happens.
Thanks again.

liamo

I believe it is unreasonable for a company to turn around and basically tell you there is nothing they can do after having supplied both the tills and the broadband connection.

I didn't realise that you had been supplied with this "solution". I thought that it was just the way things were in your company. Based on this new information I have to say that I totally agree with you. This is not rocket science. Anyone with a moderate level of networking experience could sort this. You should not have been left in this situation and it's disgraceful.

I am going back now to the supplier with this solution, I will post what happens.

Please do. I'd be interested to hear how they sorted you out.

A few points that I'd like to take issue with in your original post. I didn't take you up on them because I assumed that this was internal to your organisation.

1. Router IP of 192.168.10.1.
This is internal to your network. Your ISP doesn't set this. He doesn't care what it is. He only cares about the external IP. It could be set to 192.168.10.254 which is also a conventional gateway address. You could then set your till device to 192.168.10.1.

2. Till System IP of 192.168.x.1
All network devices can have their IP address changed. I've never come across a network device that absolutely has to have a particular IP address in order for it to function.
Is this perhaps a gateway device to a network of till devices? If this is the case, perhaps a cheap router between the till device network and your internal network would be a better idea - that way, all PC's on your internal network could access the till devices.

In summary, there's more than one way to sort your problem. Don't let those cowboys tell you that "it can't be done". Ask them why and post the information here for comments if you're unsure. Better still, pay an independent contracter (friend of a friend maybe) a few quid to look at your situation and tell you exactly what's going on.

Hope it works out well for you.

Regards,

Liam

alphie

Liam,

once again thanks for the advice, I produced a printed copy of your reply today to my supplier, his reply/excuse was as follows;

"that guy is talking about using XP computers, we have no real experience of using XP. We never had to install two cards on the one computer and cant say if it will work or not, sure if he knows so much why didnt he sell you tills"

I kid you not.

Anyway the project is now due for an attempt on Monday, will post the result.

liamo

Let's analyse that response a little ...

that guy is talking about using XP computers

The only mention of XP in this thread is in his response. The discussion was entirely free of mention of an OS. Incidentally, my responses are applicable to any modern OS.

we have no real experience of using XP

Oh, sh*t. I'd be a little concerned if a supplier said something like that to me. XP is only the largest selling OS at the moment and has been around long enough for anyone to have gained some experience on it.

We never had to install two cards on the one computer and cant say if it will work or not

OK, that's honest. It will work.

sure if he knows so much why didnt he sell you tills

Oh dear, we're a little touchy, aren't we?

In fairness, if I hadn't called them "cowboys", perhaps he wouldn't have been so defensive. However, for someone who installs a networked system and your Broadband, and let's not forget that he gets paid for it, I'm surprised at the situation you find yourself in and I'm not at all reassured by his response.

Good luck on Monday.

Regards,

Liam