Networking layman would appreciate clarification from someone more networking savvy - please :-)
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P4 with Debian Etch (testing), kernel 2.6.12-1-686, Gnome desktop
PMac G5 running OS X Tiger (10.4.3)
New to Linux and putting up a Linux & Mac LAN
(no MS, no samba)
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I've installed "netatalk" on my Linux box, and now can access and move files into and out of a shared directory on the Linux box from my Mac. Moving on, I also want to be able to discover the Mac and a printer on the Mac from the Linux box (aka AppleTalk server).

All the instructions I've found included installing "mdnsresponder" and "howl-tools" on the Linux box. The Debian packages include mdnsresponder but not howl-tools which seems to be a declining choice for whatever reasons. The Debian packages do include a new choice in this category though, called Avahi. However the Debian package is version 0.6.1 for which a significant (developer's term, not mine) bug was corrected in version 0.6.3 so I'll have to try to build it from the tar-gz.

In reading through the Avahi related material, I found in their FAQ that one should not run multiple mDNS responders. I don't know for sure and can't find a specific statement, but my layman interpretation of such is that Avahi replaces the combination of mdnsresponder and howl-tools. Can anyone please confirm or repudiate my interpretation? Any clarification of the use/purpose of Avahi and what parts are applicable to my above noted needs would also be appreciated (e.g. I don't need to "discover" who else is available to chat with on my little LAN :-)

Thank you,
Lee C

"Logic is a systematic method of coming to the wrong conclusion with confidence. " -- Murphy

Never mind. I found where Avahi conflicts with mdnsresponder. The problem is that if I were to remove mdnsresponder and install Avahi then I would need dbus rather than dbus1 which would in turn wipe out at least the majority of my testing version Gnome desktop. It may be that such could be done with the unstable Gnome desktop, but I don't want to move whole-hog to unstable because that would undoubtedly lead to more issues. Yet another catch-22 :-(

Back to seeing if I can make mdnsresponder work.

Lee C