I have a home LAN consisting of three computers. One of them runs Windows XP. The other two previously ran Windows98. I have installed Linux 8.0 (workstation) on the two Windows98 systems, so now I have two Linux 8.0 systems and one XP system. When I ran all Windows, I could share files. I asked a question previously about how to do this with Linux and was told to run Samba.

Well and good. I read the Samba docs, and now I need to find out some very basic stuff about my network (Windows just did it all automatically, so to speak). How do I set hostnames? How do I find the IP numbers for the ethernet cards? I realize this is all very basic, but I don't know how to do it. (A newbie I am).

Thanks,
john

-1-
To find your ip in windows, type (in a command prompt) ipconfig. (you an try winipcfg but i'm unsure it will work on XP).

Note: your IP should be something like 192.168.0.X

-2-
For host name, you have two possibilities: DNS or host file.

Since you only have 3 computers, I would go with the host file. It is simpler. Simply edit the /etc/host file (in linux) and had an entry for each computer.
In windows you have the equivalent file. It is in \windows\host if memory serves correctly.

Hope this helps.

The "ipconfig" to see the IP number works on Windows, sure enough. But it does not work on Linux (command not found). Is there an equivalent for Linux??

it's called ifconfig

gives you all information regarding the ethernet adapters.

Okay....tried it....says "command not found." Did a "man ifconfig" and of course it exists -- there is a man page for it. So I will try playing with find (my own private torment) but if anyone has a suggestion I would appreciate it.

Yr. Obt. Svt.
John

Never mind. Mea culpa. Not sure where I screwed up, but I have it now (that is, ifconfig works fine -- in /sbin).

Ciao,
John

Not sure if you figured this out, but it wasn't working because /sbin isn't in a regular users path (the directories bash looks for commands). type "echo $PATH" to see...

depending on how you setup your linux installation, there are some commands that only root or su (super-user) are allowed to use.

I'm in Tallahassee as well, glad to see some more interest here! Welcome.