Alright...from the looks of things i am not the only user having problems with samba...but...i have thrown another variable in the mix...i run OS X on my other computer.

Ok...first things first...i have been toying with Mandrake 9.1 for many long nights...with some success though it doesn't live up to the full potential that i had hoped for it.
I have tried to set up a file and internet share between my iBook (running OS 10.2.6 with file and internet sharing on) and my P4 system running the 'Drake. I have turned samba on, and set it up to accept connections from my laptop's IP. I have also configured the partition sharing and shared the desktop on my root account....and samba sees the share on my machine. I try to map the drive to my iBook and it will connect, however an error results, saying the share doesn't exist (and by the way...where do ya change the workgroup...my mandrake defaulted to MDKGROUP...everything else is on WORKGROUP...yes...i am lazy). The iBook picks up the fact that it is on a separate workgroup however, so this is minor.
For giggles, i tryed to mount the samba share on my P4 using the LinNeighborhood. I got the same error, saying the share couldn't be found. I also get the same error when i try to map to the share on my iBook, (no directory exists), even though it will see the share like it is there.
Also, when i try to share the internet using the Internet Setup (the name escapes me...too much caffiene late at night fries the memory), i look at the network traffic and there is only packets being sent, none received.

If there is another daring soul who has tried to network OS X and mandrake 9.1 (or Redhat 9 for that matter...i got them both...no preference to either) and had it work...could you please share your success story and the how to do it...and...i am a semi-nube with linux (i've kicked a little with sun.solaris 8..but that was a few years back...(yes 12 year olds can use UNIX..lol))....when it comes to text editing files tell me how...and with what terminal/editor. If its done w/ the GUI's...just tell me where to look with the program/setting.

If there are any requests for more info about my setup...just ask...i wanna get this to work...

Thank you very much,
da daemon