I did a search for file sharing and client/server stuff, and I found programs like glftpd and proftpd. They seem a little complicated though. I couldn't get either one started. Is there a GUI program or an easy way to give a user access to a directory or select directories on your computer?

A local user? A user on your LAN? A user over the 'NET?

A user over the net.

I'm new too, so just a suggestion

install Apache
enable it using YaST
letting your friends know your IP address and
putting up the files into the folders (/home/~accoutname) should do the trick.

I'm away from my box, else I can test out before posting this

Why not just put up a DC hub, like for example: OpenDCHub

...and then people can connect to it and download from you... and you from them!

just make a new account, a download account, and give them the username and password and let them scp it. works great for me.. even if they have windows, cuas ethere is something called winscp.. i dont know much about it, but a guy used it to get some stuff from me the other day, and he is a windows only user...

Something I do frequently for this sort of thing is just to have an ftp server running on my machine. If you are running SuSE (I assume you are, given the location of the post!), try out package pure-ftpd; this is a nice lightweight and secure ftp deamon. I have been using it for years with SuSE - it is solid.

Having set this up, make sure to allow ftp access in the firewall. For this, use the firewall configuration from YaST and its "Advanced" function - allow port 21 for TCP, which is the normal ftp port.

Now, very simply, the other machine (assuming it is linux) can use Midnight Commander to transfer files back and forth. Midnight Commander has a wonderful ftp support mechanism, which hides all the underlying mechanics, and makes the other machine look simply another directory. You can navigate around, transfer files, do everything you can do with a local directory. It is the BEST ftp client I have ever used.

To use this, open midnight commander ("mc" on most systems) and enter the following:

cd /#ftp:useridassword@hostname/directory

Of course, put in the intended userid, password and hostname in the above, not the words I have used. Once you have this all working, you can just add a bookmark (C-x h) to make access simple.

I transfer files between two linux boxes this way all the time. VERY, very nice. And, very secure. I only start pure-ftpd when I need to do a transfer, so the service is generally not there for hackers to exploit. In the same vein, I only allow port 21 in the firewall when I want to transfer. You can decide to run pure-ftpd all the time, and leave port 21 open all the time, if you wish. You will need to decide how paranoid you are!

If you have any troubles with this, just post back.

An update - I see that where I had typed the letters ":" and "p", a smiley face has been inserted. Clearly, I meant the letters ":" and "p" in that spot!

Thanks a lot for the suggestions, folks!

i suggest using ssh as its more secure and all, but for newbies who are afraid of the command line, please use the fish protocol in konqueror

enter this in the addressbar
fish://username@ipaddress

konq will ask for the password, and you are all set to use it as a normal file browsing environment.

well then, i would also suggest the fish thing, that is too cool. i know alot of people that dont like getting stuff from me becuase of my lack of knowledge of guis for it.. that is cool. now i can tell them to use that. awesome..

This fish thing sounds too cool. Never heard of it before. What protocol is it using between machines? What daemons does the other machine need to have running in order to use this? Are there specific ports you need to open on the other machine's firewall in order to have this work?

All you need is ssh setup and working on the host machine, (and ofcourse a username and password just like u will need it for normal ssh)

you can say that the kde fish plugin is sorts of a frontend for ssh

heres something that might be of some use, especially the second half of the article:

http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/feature/15895.html

yessir, kde never stops delivering. i hate the kde desktop environment, but thier tools are nice... too bad the desktop isnt.. amazing how they can make the best stuff and the worse stuff... i did the fish thing today, it was really nice. wounder if there is a plugin for firefox?