Direct Cable Connection thru Lpt1

Hello I've two machines with specs below:
Machine #1
Intel P4 2.0A Ghz
Gigabyte 533Mhz Motherboard
256MB 266Mhz DDR-SDRAM
ATI RADEON 9000 64MB DDR-RAM with TV-OUT
40GB 7200rpm Hard Disk
48x16x50 CD-RW drive
WinXP Pro as Primary OS, Win98SE as Secondary OS

Machine #2
Cyrix M-II 266Mhz(Overclocked)
SiS 530 Motherboard
192MB 133Mhz/100Mhz SDRAM
SiS530 AGP 8MB Shared
8GB Hard Disk
40x CD-ROM drive
Win98 SE as Primary OS

Okay, now I connect both using a printer cable thru lpt1 port.
I boot both machines into Win98SE, and have already install all
the required services and protocols as well as enable both's
disk as shared drive.

Now I launched Direct Cable Connection, Machine #1 as Host and
#2 as Guest, and guess what? They can't connect! Even if I
reverse their roles they still can't connect.

Do I've to use any specific cables or do anything?

I'm not being funny... but it's just not worth it! Win98 / Win98SE both have the same fault. I gave up after a while.

Use Laplink Professional v.11 or Later. It's a GR8 package, with v.few problem's at all.

Get a demo of it from www.laplink.com or www.laplink.co.uk

Hope this helps you.

Regards,

Paul.

oh really? But I wouldn't consider spending any money so I guess
trying this method is worth my time.

I really think the prob is with the cable. Is it okay for me to use a
printer cable? Or I've to buy any specific cable? I'll spend some of
my precious money if it's below $10.

I have done it using the serial ports using a null modem cable, a regular cable is no good. It worked OK but was painfully slow. I don't know about using the parallel port, it may need a special cable also. Two network cards and a crossover network cable is the way to go.