Mandrake 8.1 Lan and internet connection
 

Hello another Newbie question here....
After installing Mandrake 8.1 as the primary OS on one of my machines... I now would like to get it to communicate with 2 windows based machines on my home network. During the Mandrake installation (not expert) my LAN card and Modem were successfully detected and configured. I have this PC connected the the LAN and there is also a telephone line connected to the Modem.
Here is where the question lies.........
When I click on the mandrake internet Icon, I am told to check my internet/networking configuration.....and acording to my 8.1 manual on page181 I should be able to do this but within the control center on my computer there is NO network and internet icon from which to select, is there a way around this?
Also, How can I "see" the other 2 computers on this LAN?
I am familiar with command line statements., so shoot away.

Thanks for any input at all.
good day and Happy New Year to you.

Ok, first things first. Windows uses a protocal called SMB, on top of the TCP/IP protocols. This is how it can 'share' folders across a network. Unfortunately, Linux has to use a program called SAMBA in order to participate in the Window's party. Luckily it is on the install CDs for your distro. There are plenty of threads here on how to set up SAMBA nicely, so go fetch!

With regards to the Modem. Is it an internal (PCI) modem? If so, unfortunately it is likely to be a winmodem, in which case you are likely to be stuck with using it under Windows only.

If you could give some more info on your modem (make, model, connection type, etc) that would be good.

Wow, Thanks for the reply....... I was a little surprised to see one after this long of a delay.
I have "learned" a few things since this post..
1. I am beginning a Unix class on Saturday's begining this weekend that should be of some help.
2. found "Samba"
3. Can "ping" other computers on the network and so forth..
4. Yes, I read about the "winmodem" problem, and that it is. Although I have an external us robotics 56k that I might experiment with.
Thanks again for your input.
;)