connecting two iMac computers at same time

I use NFS Manager.app

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NFS Manager can both setup NFS shares and connect to NFS shares.

http://www.bresink.com/osx/NFSManager.html

Once you figure out how NFS Manager configures the NFS shares, you can

use Applications > Utilities > NetInfo Manager to create more shares.

You will either have to coordinate Unix Userid number and Unix Group Id number or use the mapall option on the share.

To find out your Mac OS X userid and group id do:
applications > utilities > terminal
ls -ln
ls -l

# lists the NFS share on your mac

showmount -e localhost

#list NFS shares on a remote host

showmount -e remote-ip-address

Once you see what NFS Manager does, you will be able to use NetInfo Manager to manage a connection. In Mac OS 10.4 you can configure the /etc/exports control file. See man exports for the details. Before that you had to have the data in NetInfo manager. When Mac OS X came out, many common Unix control files were not present. Instead the data had to be in NetInfo manager. Over time Apple has added more and more standard Unix control files.

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Mac OS X file sharing

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106461

There are 3 methods Mac OS uses to share folders:

-- Windows shares

-- native Mac shares

-- Unix shares

The Mac OS client shares the the public folder. You may try putting an alias in your public folder to the flash drive. To share the flash drive directly, you need SharePoints.

The Mac OS X client version contains most of the sharing software. It doesn't contain an extensive GUI for manipulating the software configuration.

"SharePoints is an application or a preference pane that makes it easy to add and delete share points like in the old Finder. In Mac OS X, by default, you are limited to sharing only what is in your public folder in your home directory. This program makes it easy to share any folder."

http://www.hornware.com/sharepoints/

Mac OS includes support for NFS, the native Unix network file sharing system. You may share files between Mac OS X systems with NFS as well as other Unix Systems. However, the documentation on how you make the shares is rather limited. Once you learn how to configure the net info database with the netinfo command, the shares are not too hard to make.

I used this program.

"NFS Manager provides a clearly laid out graphical user interface to almost all built-in NFS functions of Mac OS X. Using NFS features becomes very easy."

http://www.bresink.com/osx/143439-2/details.html

or

http://www.bresink.de/osx/NFSManager.html

details that are way beyond me.

http://www.behanna.org/osx/nfs/howto1.html

Access windows files

http://lifehacker.com/247148/how-to-mount-a-windows-shared-folder-on-your-mac

Robert