Connecting 2 computers?

[Toxidermist]

I have 2 lower end computers, What would I be able to do if i connected both of them with an Ethernet cable?

Would there be any benefit other than being able to transfer files?

 

[BK_123]

You can bridge the connection,You should be able to transfer files but I am not sure as I've never done it that way.

 

[Mossiac]

To be honest I don't think you would get the benefits that you are after.

You could make a server client setup and share the work load that way. That might work.

Mossiac

 

[lhamil64]

If I'm assuming correctly, you want to be able to combine these two lower end machines to make one better machine. Connecting them with an Ethernet cable wont do the trick. In reality, you can't really combine them unless they're identical hardware-wise (in which case I think you can make them into a cluster, but I'm not sure if you can do that with Windows or if it has to be a special Linux distro).

However what you could do is use both of them but for different tasks. For example, you could use one do more processor/memory intensive tasks (like rendering a video) and continue using the other for web browsing without the other tasks affecting it.

The problem with this is that you need space on your desk for two monitors, two keyboards, and two mice unless you set it up with a KVM switch to switch between the two machines.

 

[Taylorig]

Has already stated, you would get no benefit in regards to power from connecting them both together via Ethernet. And if you did want to connect them through Ethernet for file transfers etc you would probably be better going through a Switch/Router/Hub anyway. Otherwise you would probably need a cross-over cable to get them to communicate seeing as they are older machines.

 

[Jesusfrk611]

A crossover cable will connect them for file transfers (or Age of Empires 2 LAN games ), but if you wanted more than that, buy a new computer.

 

[dale]

Connecting them via Ethernet is just one of the considerations needed for clustering.

You need to have cluster middleware to handle the actual clustering, especially for non-identical machines. (It can be done, but it is a lot more tricky.) You also need to consider failure handling, i.e., what should happen to your data when one machine chokes and dies?

This will make for a good hobby project, great for learning. But if you want some computing power fast to get some work done, then you are better off buying a new computer.