Ok, its almost been two weeks since I have started to use Xubuntu 12.04 (LTS) and its been really fun. I can now install and uninstall programs using the Software Centre, somewhat use the terminal or to be honest, just know that the terminal sits in Application Menu>Assecssories>Terminal Emulator, Use Libre Office suite, Browse internet, Set up dropbox, Skype etc.

Now since I can do a few of these things I want to move on to the good part; to master the administrator role in a linux system and for that the first thing I have set my eyes upon is to make a network between my HP Evo D15C and my notebook which is a Dell Inspiron (N series) with windows 7 runnung on it and specs are

1. Core i5 (3.something)GHz 2nd Generation
2. 8 mb Ram
3. 600 GB hardisk

When earlier I used to run XP on my HP Evo I made a wireless network in these two systems and another desktop which my younger brother still uses (running xp) using a TP Link router WR740 N. The internet I am getting in my house is a shared bandwith connection of 512 kbps through a coxial cable connected to a scientic atlanta (webstar) 100mbps modem. I then rerouted the data cable throught the TP link router and with a wireless TP link usb device my brother catches the internet and my notebook does this automatically.

The local area wireless network I created still is avaible for my brother's PC and my notebook but I've lost local networking capabilites from my desktop to both my brother's PC and my notebook. Somewhere along the internet I read that a person needs to create some Samba server in order to do the things I was previosuly doing in Xp but unfortunately I don't know nothing about this and hence I've turned to Linuxquestions.org for help. Please I would highly appreciate if you could give me a step by step guide or tell me some literature to read so that I can get this up and running.

Further to this I would also like a few pointers regarding some programming I am planning on learning since my college has started programming in C++ and C but the problem is that they program in Windows based environment and I am using Linux. I tried downloading some compilers from the Software Center such as CodeLite but the IDE was very confusing and I am just starting C, C++ so could you tell me some compilers that have a good amount of help with self explanatory notes and a simple IDE for compiling C, C++ code.

Many Thanks for hearing me out
Waiting for Suggestions

I assume that you are running the 64-bit version of Xubuntu... Check to see if your processor supports VT-x or VT-d,... If so do a couple of things...

(This assumes the specs were for the notebook)

From a terminal;
sudo apt-get install synaptic
(trust me, you'll like synaptic better than the "software center")

Using synaptic,... if your processor supports VT-x or VT-d, install KVM. If not, install VirtualBox by going to the Oracle website for it... downloading it, and installing it with something like;
sudo dpkg -i name-of-the-oracle-virtualbox-package.deb

Set up a virtual machine for your Windows programming exercises (your'll need the Windows install discs)... either KVM or VirtualBox.

For the desktop, install synaptic as above, and from there, install the packages for SAMBA server...

If either of you are running Win7,... be aware that you'll need to make tweaks to your SAMBA server config to get Win7 to cooperate (MS likes to break things).

If the desktop is acting as the server,... use SAMBA to make the files/directories you want be shareable...

SAMBA is going to take some work to understand and set up right, and I might suggest using one of the web-based admin utilities to administer it (however, you might still need to hand-tweak your configs). You can find and install them using synaptic.