> 1) Is TCP/IP preferable to other protocols?

Are there any other protocols <g>
TCP/IP is the best choice for networking.

> 2) Which is preferable, DNS or IP Address?

Depends on your OS - different versions of windows do things
differently, but the safest setup for a small independent
network is to assign machine names you know, and a set of
static IP addresses.

> 3) What IP address should I set my NICs to?

192.168.0.xxx if you only need a few addresses

> 4) Am I correct that I must make entries in the HOSTS.SAM file for
> the IP Addresses of my NICS?

HOSTS ( no extension, .sam is a sample file ). List your
machine names, and IP addresses, and copy that file to all
the machines. ( /Windows/HOSTS for Win9X or
/Winnt/System32/Drivers/Etc/HOSTS for NT/2k/XP )

> 5) If I use IP Addresses, what settings must I make for a
> TIBO_Connection? Just the database path in the format
> hostname:driveID:\dirname\dbname.gdb? Or something else?

Sounds right for TCP/IP

--
Lester Caine
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L.S.Caine Electronic Services