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#1 2003-01-20 12:39 pm
- Mr. Binary
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- Registered: 2001-02-15
- Posts: 2654
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Accessing my home computer from school
Just to preface this, I know almost nothing about networking.
I just got broadband (Charter Pipeline) and I'd like to send files to and from my computer in my high school art class to my home computer. We're doing this experimental digital art thing, so it'd be incredibly useful to be able to grab large Photoshop files from my home computer and work on them at school, or vice versa. I've been burning CDs and running them back and forth, but there must be an easier way. I'm running Jaguar at home and, I believe, 10.1.3 at school.
Would it be possible to connect to my home computer using Go - Connect to Server, and then have my hard drive show up on my desktop?
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#2 2003-01-20 12:51 pm
- baldprof
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- From: Sheveport, LA
- Registered: 2002-01-07
- Posts: 271
Re: Accessing my home computer from school
If Charter is using DHCP (you don't have fixed IP addresses) then it won't be possible to grab the files while at school, since you would never know the IP address of your home computer. If Charter is using fixed IP addresses, then you simply have to enable ftp access on your home computer.
I do recall that there are services which can enable you to mimic a fixed IP address but I have had no personal experience with those.
Could you transfer the files before you went to school?
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#3 2003-01-20 1:54 pm
- cholley
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- From: durham, nc
- Registered: 2003-01-14
- Posts: 13
Re: Accessing my home computer from school
turning on filesharing will work so long as you can keep track of the ip address on your machine at home. if your broadband provider does change addresses on you (many do), you'll need to use a dynamic dns service to facilitate things. here's how it works: you sign up with the dynamic dns service (like www.dyndns.org and pick a domain name (like mycomputer.dyndns.org) and run a little client app in the background on your machine. the client checks every so often to see what your ip address currently is. it then transmits that info to the dynamic dns servers, which propagate the information. then, whenever you try to connect to mycomputer.dyndns.org, the ip address is resolved automatically.
good luck, and be sure to use the built-in firewall in os x, and don't open any ports you don't need!
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#4 2003-01-20 1:54 pm
- Mr. Binary
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Re: Accessing my home computer from school
I believe they are using DHCP... but my IP has remained constant for the past few days. I'll try enabling FTP and see how it goes. Would I just connect to "ftp://IPaddress" on the school computer? It would probably be easier to transer the files before I left the house, but the school computers are shut down every night.
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#5 2003-01-20 2:01 pm
- Mr. Binary
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Re: Accessing my home computer from school
turning on filesharing will work so long as you can keep track of the ip address on your machine at home. if your broadband provider does change addresses on you (many do), you'll need to use a dynamic dns service to facilitate things. here's how it works: you sign up with the dynamic dns service (like www.dyndns.org and pick a domain name (like mycomputer.dyndns.org) and run a little client app in the background on your machine.
Oh, great! Thanks. What are the advantages/disadvantages of using file sharing instead of FTP?
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#6 2003-01-20 2:04 pm
- Mr. Binary
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Re: Accessing my home computer from school
Also, one more thing... My main computer is connected to a Linksys router. I used DMZ to allow my friends to join a game of Unreal Tournament, so would I also have to use DMZ to use file sharing?
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#7 2003-01-20 4:19 pm
- baldprof
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- From: Sheveport, LA
- Registered: 2002-01-07
- Posts: 271
Re: Accessing my home computer from school
This might be one of those reasons for having a .Mac account, or some other remote storage facility that you could access from anywhere. That's one of the reasons why I got .Mac.
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#8 2003-01-20 4:52 pm
Re: Accessing my home computer from school
We'll i'm just about to get charter pipeline too, and my friends are still gonna be on 56k for a while so what we decided to do is hook up one of their old 7100's to my cable and turn filesharing on, and use that as a file server of sorts.
If I do remember correctly, charter does infact have a constant IP, so you should be able to use file sharing or ftp. It doesn't really matter.
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#9 2003-01-20 4:57 pm
- EnglaBenny
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- From: Lund, Sweden
- Registered: 2001-03-06
- Posts: 52
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Re: Accessing my home computer from school
Dynamic or constant doesn't seem to matter much; it rarely changes. In fact, I have a Dynamic IP from my ISP, but it has never changed in the 10 months I've had this ISP. 
------------<BR>Remember - It's never far from shot to kill.
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#10 2003-01-20 4:59 pm
Re: Accessing my home computer from school
While DMZ isn't necessary, it would make things easier. The downside is that it would also be less secure. You should probably try mapping ports 20 and 21 (the ports FTP uses) to the machine to which you are trying to FTP. If you decide to go with Apple File Sharing instead, open up UDP and TCP ports 548 and have the Linksys forward them to your machine.
As you asked, you can FTP from the school computer to ftp://your.ip.address/ in order to log on to your computer via FTP.
DynDNS has no advantage over FTP. It is something to use with FTP (or other services on your computer). it merely gives you a consistent address to which you can connect even when DHCP changes your IP. For example, it would make it possible for mrbinary.dyndns.org to always point to your machine...thus taking away the need to check the IP address before you leave home every time.
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#11 2003-01-20 6:22 pm
- BehindEnemyLInes
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- From: Issaquah WA USA
- Registered: 2002-01-28
- Posts: 20
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Re: Accessing my home computer from school
should work just fine, make sure to ONLY use the one file to store stuff in, and you can go both ways from home and school.....
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#12 2003-01-20 10:50 pm
- cholley
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- From: durham, nc
- Registered: 2003-01-14
- Posts: 13
Re: Accessing my home computer from school
just wanted to say that while ftp will work, it transmits your password in cleartext. as such, when you ftp to your machine from school, anyone monitoring traffic on your network can sniff the password. this will give them at least ftp access to your machine, but more importantly, it leaves you open to a more serious attack via other services that you might have running (such as remote login). although the potential for someone monitoring your network in order to cause trouble is probably low, i'd stay away from ftp. stick with ssh or apple filesharing.
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#13 2003-01-20 10:54 pm
- Mr. Binary
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Re: Accessing my home computer from school
Great, thanks everybody. I think I'll give FTP a shot and then maybe try file sharing by opening specific ports. I actually do have .Mac, but some Photoshop files can be in excess of 100mb.
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