Simple question? My work PC is away to get the power supply fixed but is holiday time here in France! And the ancient replacement is driving me crazy. And the guys at the help-line cannot tell me what to do to get on the network. They WILL give me the parameters to enter but I need a setup screen and a login screen.

Latest Zenwalk distro on a Asus b43f laptop.

we have no idea what an unknown companies remote access solution is. I'm really confused as to why you think we'd be able to help you here. A setup screen? for what?

Sounds like your referring to some sort of VPN setup. If so, if your company has an SSL client VPN that would be your easiest option.

The server is not here in the office, the tech assistance is via a help-line. They know nothing about linux.

If I want to set up the PC to get on the company network I have to put the settings somewhere? And to log in I need another screen? A window, a login box. I have some idea about how to use the PC with Linux and how to get some things done - but NO idea of how a network access works.

Dude, if you don't know any more about the solution that you're telling us, it's just not going to happen.

Right now the PC is connected to the internet via a cable in the office. When I use the ancient replacement windows PC it asks me to log in - name of network (ie company network, file server), user name and password. With my Zenwalk Linux PC I have no idea how to enter the parameters for the network and there is nothing to allow me login. I can get the information about the network parameters from the help-line but they cannot tell where to put it. They know nothing about Linux and I only know how to use it connected to the internet. So how to get to to the company file server? As I said, the file server is in the help-line place the other side of Paris. And no one knows anything here where I am - they just log on to the server each morning to do their work. VPN, SSL? I should know this but I do not.

i use fedora with gnome-2 (project blue-bubble) and when i click on the network-manager applet and select vpn connections it brings up a list of choices like cisco anyconnect..., openvpn, ...

i guess that is your best bet. else, maybe you can run your company software in wine ? but since you dont mention what software they use, i wouldnt have a welks idea in a supernova if it would work.

"it ask me"? how? when? where? why? We aren't psychic, a computer will not "just ask"

This description sounds like a local login to your PC. The problem you may be facing is one of authentication to a Windows network. If this is the case, a Linux solution, if even possible, may not be a simple matter. The method you would need to use will depend upon what type of networking scheme your company is using. For example, are they using Active Directory? If so, you may be able to use the Samba Client to connect, but this will require significant configuration on your part. If they are using something like Novell (the last company I worked for did, even a few years ago), you will need a different application.

Unfortunately, the two systems are inherently different enough that you can't just login to the Linux PC and connect to the windows network.

I would suggest that it would be worth trying to see if a basic Samba client on your Linux PC can see the windows network. It may then give you a means to enter the parameters given to you by the IT department. BTW, Samba adds the Windows networking protocols to Linux, which it natively doesn't support.