Hello,
As a newbie, I don't know where to start with networking linux (especially in communicating with an XP PC - have previously been networking 2 WXP PCs without problems. Where do I start with this? I have found lots of other threads, but in pure linux talk, which wasn't accessible. I have Mandrake 9.1. Have heard of a program called Samba, which sounds useful , but can't find it in the program list anywhere! (and downloading it won't help as I don't have a way to get it to my Pc running linux!!!)

thanks!

You need to be a little more specific by what you mean. Do you want to set up file sharing between the 2 computers? If so, then samba is what you want. You probably have it installed on your computer. If you type smb:///<ip_addr_of_xp>/sharename then you can see that share. For XP to see shared file on Linux you need to set up the samba server. There are ways to mount a windows share in linux. Search the forums for that.

Are you trying to share an internet connection from xp to Linux?

Also, a program called webmin ( www.webmin.com ) may be something you would want to look into. You can use it to administer your computer from a webbrowser.

Yes, it was fielsharing I was after.

Thanks - the advice on Samba was perfect!!!!!!

yes....Samba is great....a little confusing at first, but when you get your config right and get it going it works really great!!! Good luck with it....holler if you need any help...

Hello,
One little problem - when using Samba this way, I can view directories, but can't actually edit or move the files, not even to move them to the linux PC. Also, it sometimes doesn't let me into certain directories.

make sure that all your accesibilities are setup on the files your trying to access, ensure that everyone has read/write accesibilities. Hope it helps.