I'm hoping this simple tutorial will help people setting up their Make Controller for the first time avoid some of the more common network issues.

Note: I have always used XP Pro and I have rarely used Home. I work on business networks and it is hard to find Home being used in that environment. So I'm not sure of any differences if any between the two. If I have the chance I will check out a machine running XP Home and see if there are any additions to be made.



Regardless of your current network situation you can get the Make Controller talking to your computer without any additional hardware other than an Ethernet cable. Any cable. It doesn't even have to be a crossover.
Bring up the properties for your network connection. Highlight "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) then click Properties.
If you are using DHCP to set your computers IP address then you should see a window like this. (Skip this part if your IP is manually set)
Click on the "Alternate Configuration" tab.

All you need to add is an IP address in the same segment as the Make Controller (The net mask will fill in automatically). I'm using 76 as an example but you can choose anything from 1 to 254 except 200.

OK your way out of everything.

That's all you need. You should now be able to communicate with your controller.


Alternatively if you have a manually set IP address then you will need to click on the "Advanced…" button.

Click the "Add…" button in the IP addresses section.

Type an IP address in the 192.168.0 range. I'm using 76 as an example. The network mask will fill in automatically.

OK your way out of everything.

That's all you need. You should now be able to communicate with your controller.