I am new to Linux and plan on using the SUSE distribution. My goal is to set up a server at home that can house my data and backups (images) from all of the machines in my home. At a later date I'd like to add FTP and host some web pages.

Questions

1. Most of the machines at home are NTFS Windows 2k or XP machines. Will I be able to map or attach to my SUSE server and copy files to and from (read and write) my Windows NTFS boxes. I assume it will not understand the NTFS permissions. If not are there utilities available that will let me do this?

2. Will I be able to attach to Windows NTFS boxes from my SUSE server and copy files to and from my Windows NTFS machines (read and write). If not are there utilities available that will let me do this?

3. I typically back up my Windows desktops to a USB external drive using PowerQuest Drive Image. Can I make a bootable CD ROM or floppy disk (DOS?) that will allow me to attach to my SUSE server and run Drive Image saving the images to the SUSE server?

4. What are the hardware prerequisites for running SUSE Linux 9.3 Professional?

5. Out of the box how is support for installing and running SUSE 9.2 Professional on a laptop, specifically a ThinkPad T40.

I'm sure I'll have more questions once I run the install next week. I thank you in advance for your patience.

Thanks

Len

I think that writing to NTFS partitions under Linux is still very much problematical. Reading is supposed to be okay though. What a lot of people do is to have a FAT partition on the machine so that Windows and Linux can write to the same files. You could also have a look at Samba for connection and access to the Windows machines.

I have had instances where linux has been able to access files on the windows machine where Windows couldn't.

The Novel/SuSE site should be able to give you the prerequisites for 9.3 even though it's not due until next week.

Sorry if it's not much help, I'm at work with a terrible cold, but Ithought I'd get the ball rolling for you.

Cheers
Chris

Chris,
Thanks for the informaiton. I didn't know what Samba was so I Googled it and unless I am mistaken it requires you to have a Domain controler which of course at home I don't have. Am I correct? I also did some other research and found a few products, which if I understand them correctly will allow me to get where I need to go with regard to my questions about reading and writing to NTFS. It looks like they charge for the software which of course I would rather not do. Does anyone know of any free alternatives? Here are the products I found:

www.mount-everything.com

www.ext2fs.com

www.ntfs-linux.com


I'll take a look at Novell's site for the hardware requirements.

I hope you feel better!

Thanks

I hope I understood you correctly: the data will be exchanged through a network among different computers, not between different partitions/HDD's on one computer? The tools you mentions are only required to access data on the same machine.

No. If you set up a samba server on your SUSE system, it may act as domain controller (managing all your users and profiles), but it is not required. Samba can act a simple fileserver as well. NTFS-write capability is not required, since these processes are managed by the smb network protocol. The setup of a samba server is very simple with YaST. For more advanced configurations however, a little reading of the Samba documentation may be necessary.

Sorry for any confusion, yes I plan on installing SUSE on it's own independant machine. I want to exchange files across the network to and from different machines.

Samba sounds like it will work for me but I will have to read up on it to understand the best configuration for what I want to do (essentially copy files from to any box on my network even ones that are NTFS). Can you reccomend and good reference resources for Samba?


Thanks

I guess this would be the official documentation:
http://us2.samba.org/samba/docs/man/...TO-Collection/

There is also an online book "Using Samba", which makes a nice impression:
http://us2.samba.org/samba/docs/using_samba/toc.html

Most information is available from www.samba.org

Thanks for the links to Samba. I won't be installing until next week. While I'm at it can anyone tell me the differences between the different versions of SUSE?

1. I see the following versions downloadable form Novell's site

A. SUSE LINUX Professional 9.2 DVD Evaluation Version, downloadable form the Novell site as an "Eval" version. Does this mean it will time out? What is it missing? Can this be used as a server?

B. Novell Linux Desktop - I guess this is meant only for desktop client use?

C. SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 9 - What does this include?


I think all of these are listed as Eval versions. Do they expire? I was planning on purchasing SUSE 9.2 from a local store for $90 but if I don't have to then I would certainly prefer not to.

Does anyone have any advice on my remaining questions?


2. I typically back up my Windows desktops to a USB external drive using PowerQuest Drive Image. Can I make a bootable CD ROM or floppy disk (DOS?) that will allow me to attach to my SUSE server and run Drive Image saving the images to the SUSE server?

3. Out of the box how is support for installing and running SUSE 9.2 Professional on a laptop, specifically a ThinkPad T40.

Thanks in advance

I can't tell you anything about the Novell software. But I can highly recommend SUSE 9.2. The EVAL does not mean that it expires, it is simply not the full amount of software available on this DVD. But every missing packages can be installed from FTP later (you'll get almost the same amount of software as from the boxed version in the shops). See http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hreadid=266647 for futher information about upgrading (and also about whether this may be called PRO or EVAL ).

Can't tell you anything about questions 2 and 3. But have a look here for linux support on certain laptops:

www.tuxmobile.org
www.linux-laptop.net