Hi, first post here with a long Problem/question.

I have two computers.
A main (Athlon Xp-M 2500+ @2.4ghz) just for gaming and nothing else. It's running a highly optimized WinXP (if it don't help me game, I don't need it).
A second (Athlon Xp 1600+) I use for everything else, web browsing, e-mail, p2p, etc. The secondary (1600+) uses removable hard drive trays so I can boot different OSs such as XP, 98SE, or just recently the Linux distro SUSE 9.1 I'm trying out (total Linux n00b by the way).
As well there are two fixed hard-drives (formated in NTFS) I use for all my file storage (p2p, mp3s, patches, backups, etc), and lastly my (only) DVD burner.

I'm quite impressed with SUSE, and so far have figured out how to do everything with it I could do with XP (I can even access the NTFS partitions/files on the other two hard-drives in SUSE) except for one thing.

When both computers were running XP they were networked, and I could access either one from the other using the "network neighbourhood", share files back and forth, printers, etc.

Well with SUSE right from the start I could connect to the XP (main gaming) computer and browse any of the "shared" files on it (nice job that, right out of the box and all). Accessing the SUSE box from the XP one is a bit of a different story though.
I started the "Samba" server program (which I seem to need to restart after every system shut down/restart), and gave it the needed information, work-group, etc.
Well I can see the SUSE box in "My network places/View work-group computers" on the XP machine, and I can even kind of access it.

What happens is when I click on the icon representing the SUSE box, it's replaced with 5 icons. One of a printer, another of a PDF printer, and three folder icons, named "root", "users" and "groups". When I try to open any of the folders I get a log-in box, and that's were the problem seems to be.
First off, I'm currently using SUSE's default log-in user "root" which seems to be in the group "games".
Now say the XP computer is designated "MYCOMPUTER". Well when I enter "root" and my SUSE root password in the log-in box, I see on the XP system, to open the folders it tries, fails, and then presents me with the log-in box again. Except instead of having "root" as the user it now shows "MYCOMPUTER/root". If I even try with that I still can't get any further into the SUSE file system.
For some reason the XP computer's name is all ways added to the log-in user's name after the first try.
I've tried creating a few different user accounts on the SUSE box, such as one named the same as the XP computer's name, or in a group named the same as the XP's name, but nothing I've tried seems to work.

So to wrap things up, I'm really interested in using SUSE as a replacement for XP on the secondary computer. I'm basically stuck with XP on the gaming machine though (sorry guys only a partial convert). But before I go any further with this concept, I need to figure out how to access files on the SUSE box from the XP system. Not so much files on the drive that SUSE was installed too, but the other two in the machine containing my download/backup files.

Anyone able to give a total Linux n00b a walk thur so I can get past this point, and then ditch XP?

Secondary question:
Is it normal for SUSE to get kind of flaky when you try to use a user account other then "root"? While I was experimenting I found I could have a couple of weird issues.
Like my Live 5.1 emitting a single loud tone from boot and into the KDE desktop. This wouldn't stop till I disabled the card, and then re-enabled it. There were a couple of other things of that nature (though I can't recall them right now) it would do as well.
It's all most like my only totally stable account is the "root" one. I could run as "root", but I've heard it's not really a good idea, from a security stand point. Comments?

All I ever use for accessing a linux system from windows is the SSH program available from U of Hawaii's website:
http://www.hawaii.edu/help/software/pc/ssh.html
Assuming you have the ssh service started at boot on your linux box (it probably is), it's extremely easy. Pretty self explanatory. Hit quick connect, enter hostname or IP, username, password, and you're done--you have a 2 pane drag and drop file manager. As long as the user you log in as has access privileges for you backup drives, it sould work fine.

EDIT: You may have to mount the backup drives if they aren't automatically mounted at boot. This is easy with this SSH prog, as you can pop up a terminal window along side the file manager window.

First off NEVER run as root, it's much better to su into root from a regular user account to copleet a task that needs root privileges to be compleeted.

For your fist question you will need to set up samba privileges. there a couple ways to do this, the first and most likely the easiest is to install a program called Webmin, it has a module that will give you a graphical interface to setup samba in detail. you will want to make sure you have your ssl libraries install before you install webmin to make sure is runs securely since it is a web based admin tool.

The second way to get a detailed graphical setup for samba is to upgrade your KDE installation to KDE 3.3 which has a nice interface built into the Control Center. this is a little harder but can be worth it for some of the little features that KDE 3.3 has over KDE 3.2.

The last way is to go out to a local bookstore or to the internet and read up on how to setup samba the down and dirty way by modifying the samba config files manually.

As for your your second issue with your sound, this also sounds like a privileges issue and I know other people have had similar issues so if you do a search of the forums you should be able to find something that can help you, sorry I cant be more help here but I have not had this issue so I'm not qualified to give more advice, just search SuSE and alsa you should be able to find a thread that helps.

Firstly, I agree with previous posters... don't use root as your regular logon (however, I haven't a clue what's causing your regualr logon to make silly noises ).

Secondly, I suggest using SWAT (Samba Web Admin Tool should be on the distro disc(s) somewhere). The problem sounds like you need to add userid(s) to Samba (this is separate to the regular Linux logon ids) and then flag the shares as allowed for the id's you want.

Tor - the man in black (but not one of the men in black).

Thanks for the help guys

That SSH prog sounds like it might be the ticket.

As for logging in as root, the funny thing is I'm using the DVD version of SUSE 9.1 and on the very first boot after install, that's the only way you can access the system. So most likely, like a lot of newbies would, I got the impression that it wasn't that big a deal to run as root.

When I think about it, it's kind of silly if you ask me. You'd assume that the install program would set-up a day to day user account, as well as a root.
But then again what do I know right?

I'm worried about all this stuff I hear about single user mode on the 9.x series and being stuffed straight into root.

I have been using 7.3 and then 8.2 , both professional versions of the distro.

One of the pluses, imho, of the SuSE install programs and possibly of Linux generally, is that it practically forces you to name users at install time. At least that what happened in 7.3 and 8.2 for me.

IIRC, XP doesn't do this at all. Effectively you install that and hey presto there you are up and ready to run, with full administrator privileges right out of the box. And most people end up using it this way because they don't know any different.

Seems SuSE is going the same way?

Is this part of a conspiracy to open up Linux or at least SuSE to rootkits etc ??? Do they have some MS guys working for them now?

Regards

Lesley

SuSE 9.1 on the DVD from Novell (the freebie) prompted me to install a user other than root. Maybe you missed it?

Same here, it asks you to add a user other then root. You can even add more users and edit them and such.

Even if you miss adding a user, at the end of the installation you can check a checkbox saying something like run YAST now or so. That runs YAST right away so u can add/edit/remove users and groups there also before rebooting or entering linux or so

Well, I'm using a copy of the Pro DVD, that I got from a "cough" friend "cough". So I'm not sure if that one is the "free" one your referring to.
But I do know (or am pretty sure) that I was never prompted to add any other user accounts.
Any way I thought all Linux distros were free, it was user support and manuals you were paying for when you bought a retail package.

But back to the subject at hand, I did the main install (file coping to my hd), my system then rebooted, and it did a few other things, and I was just asked for an admin password during the final set-up phase.
Then my system started to load SUSE, and I was given a log in box. It took me a few tries (remembered hearing about the Linux "root" concept), before I even figured out how to even get past the log in panel. But I'm pretty sure I was never prompted to create any other sort of account.

Any chance I've been slipped a hacked version, if there could be such a thing?

no need to cough around here your in open source country now so what your friend did was perfectly legal. The only version of SuSE I know of that doesn't prompt you to create a user is their live CD. Though once again it is open source so it is possable that for some reason or another your friend hacked the YaST code so that it wouldn't ask to create another user, but it's not very likely, since if he/she has the skills to hack the code he/she most likely knows that it's not wise to run as root and wouldn't do that.

I know I haven't really answered your question I just felt I should clarify a few things.

unless they're not really your friend...

(backdoor access, perhaps?)

Ok, ok, my friend's name is "cough" edonkey2000 "cough". Me BaD...
So maybe that was a mistake?

I thought Linux users didn't go in for those sort of things. Plus I didn't find a Windows type virus/trojan, of course I guess a Linux version of a back door wouldn't show up in a scan right? Doesn't it help that my system is behind a router using NAT, or will a Linux Trojan be able to mess with me any way?

Maybe I was a might bit foolish here.

Maybe you should choose a diffy friend.

The Novell link was posted here a while back.

If I run into it, I can post it here, I suppose.

The only bad about that is you have to have a DVD drive to install from, but I take it you've got one of those.

If you mentioned your location, maybe somebody could recommend a local LUG?

heck, if you were anywhere near central Indiana, I'd be happy to help you out.

And, as a last resort, repeat after me:

google is a much better friend than edonkey2000

google is a much better friend than edonkey2000

google is a much better friend than edonkey2000

That's where I found ISO for suse 9.1 pro in cd chunks before.

Keep digging, you'll find a good copy.

Kyle

Dare I say it but I found decent copies being sold on ebay some time ago. Not sure of how reputable people feel ebay is as a linux source but I haven't run into any problems as of yet.
J

Well, I did try google first, it turned me on to a site with a whole lot of distros.
http://www.linuxiso.org/
I tried Knoppix first and was intrigued, but realized it wasn't an installable distro.
I then tried the Suse eval CD, and was quite impressed, thought about trying the personal CD version, but what can I say, I'm greedy.
I wanted the whole thing, but was really leery about their ftp concept. Tried googling again, no luck. So I (and possible wrongly now) tried the edonkey route, found a few and just grabbed the one with the highest user count.
I also grabbed a Mandrake DVD as well, I might give it a try too.
Oh by the by, I live on Vancouver Island, B.C. Canada eh. So as much as I appreciate the offer....