I have two computers one running windows xp with two nic cards. And the other one running debian with one nic card. My question is I cut a rj45 in half and tried to make a crossover cable. The windows computer is link to the net with one of the two nic card.I want to use the pic nic card to connect link up to the debian with the crossover cable. I know that samba is active in the debian computer. What software I need in the windows computer.

First, I moved this to the networking forum. The Introductions forum is clearly marked as NOT the place to ask questions.

I would not try to make a homemade crossover cable that way. You are better off buying one.

Many NICs nowadays are auto-midx, so a cross over cable isn't an absolute necessity. You nned a link light and need to be able to ping the computers.

Technically you don't have to assign IP addresses. You can use DHCP even if no DHCP server is present, You'll get unique IP addresses, I believe in the range of 169.254.x.y.

Windows can access Samba shares through smb://<ip address> or smb://<computer name>