ok, i'm not exactly sure why it's working the way it is, but here's a status update:

i did the commands tangle suggested, except i dunno what is meant by:

then i copy/pasted the smb.conf file.

nothing really happened.

so i changed a few things in my kde-configure gui, like net bios: jdd as opposed to "MyPC" and fiddled with the allowed users, so that jdd, kevins, and nobody all have passwords and full access to the shared stuff on my computer...

so i click on devices on my desktop, and click on samba shares, and...i get BANANAS!

so i click on BANANAS...and i get jdd(SAMBA server 3.0.2) and Kevin****** (kevin)

****** inserted in place of last name for privacy considerations.

i can open jdd, but i get 'Could not connect to host for smb://kevin******/'

is this because i didn't do the WINS server? do i need to add something or remove something from the XP box? should the (kevin) part of it actually be (kevins) and if so how would i change that??

let me have it!!

well, scratch that...

for some reason nothing is showing up now...not even the workgroup...

i think my router changed my IP, but other than that i dunno what it could be...

just up and stopped working...