At last 
Picked up another HP PC eBay bargain today, and after a rebuild and reinstall, got it working and talking to the first PC Ian got me. And then, just to see if it would work, I connected up my works laptop. And, rather interestingly, it does. So a chuffingly good evening, all in all. Even if it only seemed to fall into place with a little single malt lubrication 
in other news, I read that the latest Sanderson kettle has passed on, having gone off the boil for the last time.
