How to connect to a db on the server using ado.net?

Hi guys
It’s my first time developing db application working on a LAN. I‘ve been using DAO before for past projects but now I need to develop an application which works on the LAN so I moved to ADO.NET but I don’t know how to access the db’s on the server form my application BTW I would better not use SQLserver because I want the application to be independent of SQLserver installed on the server or not.
The case is:
There’s a Server (Win2000 server) and a Win XP computer connected to it, on which my application will run, accessing an access db on the server.
Now what is the connectionString? Or should I do something else? Can OLEDB drivers on the server serve a client on the other computer or using SQLserver is necessary for this type of project?
Thanks a lot