I have 3 PC at home. 2 running XP Home (SP2) and one running Mandrake 10.1. My goal is to connect them using the router (see below), in order to use one Internet connection and the printer.

I have ordered the following 4 Port Cable/DSL Broadband Router with Print server

ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=52897

Has anybody networked a similar LAN. I am wondering if I will encountered problem between the different OS. And also if the Linux and XP machines will be able to share the printer.

Any help will be appreciated.

JC

Setting up the basic network to get to the internet will be straight forward.

To share files between the windows and linux machines you will want samba (look here) installed on the linux machine.

As for the printer I will assume you will plug it in to the usb port on the router, this should work fine for the windows machines as it will come with the necessary drivers for it. However the linux machine might be a bit more difficult.

One place to find some info will be here at LQ and http://www.tldp.org/ .

Thanks snowtigger, I will get the Samba installed on my Linux machine. My printer is a Canon 550i, I will have to do some research to see if it is supported by Linux.

I can't wait to receive the router and try to sort this LAN out. I will let you know how I get on.

Thanks
JC

OK, I have received the router and connected evertything. The 2 XP boxes are ok and running (can connect to the internet and they can see each other, but I cannot see the Linux box).

Basically my question is what should I do next and in what order.

Remember that I am completely new to Linux.

Thanks
JC

What do you mean by not seeing the linux box?
Can you connect to the internet with it or are you trying to see it in windows network neighborhood?

OK an update, after rebooting I can connect to the Internet with the Linux box. But from the 2 XP PCs I can't see the Linux box (I think I need to set up Samba properly as you mentioned it earlier). What I am doing right now is trying to get the Linux box to find the printer (connected through the router with an USB connection), but it cannot find it, it is btw a Canon 550i.

Any idea
JC

You will need to setup samba to see it in the network neighborhood. Samba is the suite of software that provides all of this for linux and other OS's.

I don't have a printer myself so i can't go into much detail here. If when you set it up for windows you had to put in a ip address to connect to the printer you will have to do something similar for linux. Most people use CUPS for printing. Either search LQ for threads or use http://www.google.co.uk/linux.

Have a look at this book. it cantains a lot of interesting stuff regarding networking.. it might help

Linux home networking

Thanks Uzairkhan, I will check this website (so much to learn and so little time)

Regards
JC