Thanks for the replies guys....firstly I dont have a router and was hoping it was going to be easy enough to get by without one and secondly my machine is connected by ethernet and it has a secondary gigabit lan ethernet onboard which I can connect the second one to...like this one...
http://www.ngohq.com/images/articles...0&%20Audio.JPG
I have tried it this way...but Im sure I need to change some ip settings on at least one of the machines in order for it to work? From this point on is where Im lost.