P2P home network w/ Win 98/2000/ME/XP

I added Windows XP Pro machine to existing P2P network. The only way I could get the XP machine to connect to the LAN was by adding the now-unsupported NETBEUI. Not surprisingly, Microsoft advises migrating away from NETBEUI.

So my question is this: if I do decide to “lose” NETBEUI, what protocol can I use to connect these diverse machines? I may also want to add a Windows XP HOME and/or a Windows 95 machine to the network. Thanks in advance!