Can someone direct to me to a page that explains how to setup a small home bare bones network. Every Linux networking page Ive come across gos into way too many details, I just want to share files between my linux box and my two XP boxes, I dont want to setup security and a million other functions right now, so please no links to http://www.tldp.org/, I just want somthing simple, thanks!

Start by reading the man page for ifconfig

You can assign your machine an IP address by typing:
ifconfig eth0 192.168.0.1

Set a netmask:
ifconfig eth0 netmask 255.255.255.0

On your windows box, assign your machine an IP address (192.168.0.2) and a netmask of 255.255.255.0.

I'm a newbie but that worked for me. You may need to change some firewall settings to allow the machines to talk if your firewall is configured for high security. I'm a newbie so someone else will have to help you with that one

Good luck,
Jon

My NIC's are configured and "up" on my Linux and my two XP machines, I don't use a firewall, thx though

I am also relatively new to Linux. I have a Windows ME desktop, a Windows ME laptop and a Linux desktop.

You will need to install a package called SAMBA on your Linux machine. It's not as daunting as the documentation makes it sound. It's probably included in your distro.

You will have to install the software and create a file called SMB.CONF which contains instructions on what files and peripherals you want to share on your Linux machine. Search this site for SMB.CONF and you will find one by Hanzerik which is very generic and offers no security--if you are using this strictly at home this should not be a problem.

You will have to initialize two daemons: SMBD and NMBD

Once this is all configured correctly you will be able to look at files on your XP machines from your Linux computer and you should be able to attach your Linux drive(s) from your XP machines.

Best of Luck....j p ohara

I have samba installed and configured, however it doesn't run, I ran most of the tests in DIAGNOSTICS.txt however it still doesn't work which leads me to assume its not Samba that is misconfigured. That is why I am looking for the page specified, thx anyways

Install SWAT (package is samba-swat). That will let you admin teh Samba server from your computer via a web browser and I found it much easier to use than anything else.

thx, ill give it a try,

When use SMB,u should modify smb.conf(/etc/smb.conf) which is important.And then test "man smb".----good luck!

btw, what is
bare bones network?

Setting networking isn't hard in any OS if you know=understand networking. Without that, you won't get away without reading

I disagree, I can setup winbloze networks all day and have them work fine. However the terminolgy in Linux is different, its not understanding the protocols of a network that I'm having problems with. Its configuring a network from a command driven OS (I don't use X) that is a bit confusing at first.... A bare bones network is a file sharing network VIA tcp/ip, no firewall, router ect.