Firstly, just a comment on your smb.conf file.
Quote:
Any line beginning with a semicolon (``;'') or a hash (``#'') character is ignored
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(Taken form man smb.conf)
The file is very difficult to follow, since it is full of lines doing nothing. Best thing to do is backup this file, open a copy in an editor and strip out the comments, then you can see more what is really being configured. You are using a lot of defaults, such as security, I'm not sure what the default is.
Second comment, DHCP with Samba can be done, but not without a lot of difficulty. I know, I tried. The mechanism for resolving IP addresses with windoze code is complex. I think you need to set up a Domain Name Server. That is a kettle of fish for someone with lots of training. I found out it will work to a point. You can find the IP addresses and update your 'hosts' files on each machine. But as soon as you boot a box, it gets a different IP address, you can no longer connect to it, until you update the 'hosts' files. Constant maintenance, and a real pain.
I left my DHCP server running, so if a new box comes to the network, it gets online right away. The boxes that stay here all the time I set fixed IP addresses. I set a range in my router for dynamic IP addresses. I set fixed IP's for the fixed boxes within the range of the sub-net, but out side of the range for dynamic IP. Works great, set up the 'hosts' file on the fixed boxes, and you are done.
Next, there are two parts of networking with windbloze, server and client. You can do one with out the other. The smb.conf file configures the server, your linux box so it can share files and printers. The client part is much simpler.
You said you couldn't see the other boxes on the network. Have you tried opening up Konqueror, and in the address bar type 'smb:/networkname' ( without quotes )? That should list the machines in your network. If you get nothing then, you need to find out if you have ip connectivity with them. The commands to find the IP addresses: for linux - ' /sbin/ifconfig'
for WinXP 'ipconfig' and older versions like W98 'winipcfg' . No quotes with any command. Each should return the IP address of each box.
I think you would benefit from doing a little reading. Here is a link to information on configuring Samba server.
http://us1.samba.org/samba/docs/using_samba/toc.html
Here is a link I used to get my server running, the way I wanted it.
http://www.dalantech.com/fusionbb/sh...php?tid/51627/
There are others you can find by googling. This is not a trivial topic, with one simple answer, so be prepared to dig in and do some learning.
Hope this helps.