Networking two linux machines

"How do I network two linux machines so that I can transfer files quickly between them?" saidth the newbie. Hi all! I am new to linux. and I am in new situation: I have two machines here running linux - both SuSE. One has SuSE 7.1 and the other has SuSE 8.2 installed. How do I set up a network so that I can transfer files between the two machines? What protocol / programs should I use? Thanks for any suggestions. Regards, Dan