Inter-OS networking--how?

[dougmack]

I need some serious basic instruction on how to get a network working.  It's a bit complicated, but I can live with a partial
solution if I must.  I've been told that it is easier to run the network from Linux, so I'll expect to do that.  Here's what I
have:  Three computers.  One is dedicated to Win 7 and has two printers physically connected to it.  One is dedicated to
PCLOS, and has nothing connected to it.  One is a laptop, and usually runs in Linux, but also can boot into XP.
(The dedicated Linux machine can also dual-boot into XP,)  The dedicated Win 7 machine can dual-boot into Linux, but
that's basically for sandboxing--if I screw up the Linux system there, I can just reinstall it and not care.  All these
machines are hard-wired thru a Linksys wireless router.  When all is working, I'd like to be able to run the laptop
wirelessly on occasion, but not all the time.

What I wish to do is share and copy files between any two machines, and print to either of the two printers which are physically
connected to the Win 7 machine.  The printers do not have wireless inputs. 

I really have no idea how to set this up.  I did get the XP system on the laptop to think it was ready to network, but I can't
get to it from Win 7--Microsoft doesn't even seem to want to talk to itself!  Googling says that MS did some nasties with
the Win 7 networking stuff, so it only basically wants to talk to other Win 7 machines.

If there is any written material that I might understand (!) please direct me to it, or if you know how to do this and
have an extra half hour or so to write it up in words of (almost) one syllable, I'd appreciate it!

--doug

[YouCanToo]

The program to stands out for networking between different OS's like Windows and Linux is SAMBA.  Here is instruction for file sharing with Samba http://pclinuxoshelp.com/index.php/File_Sharing

[dougmack]

I went thru your instructions.  some files are not where you said they would be, but I think I found them all, ONCE.  I think it was in
Configure SAMBA, which was not where you said it was, that it asked for a name for another machine, and I put in the wrong case for
my Windows machine name.  When I was all thru,I could not get to the Win machine, and I found that I had the case problem.
Now I cannot get back to Configure SAMBA--I've looked everywhere in the PCC.  (If it's not in that routine, then I don't know where it is.)
I looked in the "Find Files" box for any kind of SAMBA configuration file, but didn't find one.  Where then is the Windows machine name
written, so I can fix it?

Thanx for the input.  I think I almost have it. . .--doug

[YouCanToo]

Sorry about the issues that you have had. I did not write that how to, I don't even run Windows. I can tell you that to change the workgroup name in Windows XP you need to open the control panel select the system icon then click "system Name"  now click on the button labeled change and at the bottom of that window you can change the name.  Windows comes default with the name "WORKGROUP" in all upper case.  I am not sure if Windows requires a reboot or not to be able to use the new name or not. You could always reboot just to be on the safe side of things.  I hope that this helps you out.

[YouCanToo]

I was just thinking that perhaps an easy way to set things up might be to use the program samba-swat.  You would need to load it from synaptic. You will need both samba-swat and samba-docs for it to load.  Once loaded you need to make sure it set to run. Open PCC and select System --> Manage system services and scroll down and locate swat and make sure it is checked to Start when requested.  When finished click OK at the bottom left corner of that screen. Now close the pcc window. Now we want to restart the xinetd service so open a console window as the root user type in the following

Code: [Select]

service xinetd restart

you should see something like this.

[root@workbox dwmoar]# service xinetd restart
Stopping xinetd                                                                     [  OK  ]
Starting xinetd                                                                      [  OK  ]
[root@workbox dwmoar]#

Once that is done close the console window. Goto the PC menu and than choose "More Applications" and than select "Configuration" and than choose Samba Configuration (SWAT) to launch SWAT.   You will be able to set a new workgroup name under the GLOBAL tab.

Perhaps this will be allot easier to use.  At least it is a thought.

[Just17]

It is strange that samba-swat will not install unless you also manually install samba-doc .....

[YouCanToo]

If you try installing samba-swat without the samba-doc it will pop up an error, perhaps a package dependency or some sort of error. Not a big deal if you know about it. It would be nice though if samba-swat would just automatically install it.

[Just17]

If you try installing samba-swat without the samba-doc it will pop up an error, perhaps a package dependency or some sort of error. Not a big deal if you know about it. It would be nice though if samba-swat would just automatically install it.

+1