I have my box set up with SuSE 8.0. It has a printer and an internet connection. I have my wife's machine networked with it. The network works fine when I am booted into Win ME but it doesn't work with linux and I am about convinced that it is not possible to network linux.

Another possibility occured to me. Is it possible to log into my linux box from her computer using telnet and my 100base T fast ethernet connection. When I try to log in from her machine it tells me it can't find my linux box. Am I missing something? Is this even possible?

I would sure like to be able to access the internet and printer from her machine and it doesn't seem to be possible through normal networking.

Can you 'ping' your windows box from your linux box and vice versa? Have you added a route from your windows box to your linux box (assuming you can ping the linux box from the windows box)? Read the network how-to at www.linuxdoc.com to ensure you've followed all the steps for networking the systems to see eachother. Once you've verified they can see each other then set up the linux box to connect to the internet. Once the linux box can see the internet follow the tutorial for IPfiltering to enable IP Masquerading and Port forwarding so that you can get to the internet from your windows box through the linux box.
As far as accessing the windows printer from the linux box you need to setup Samba AND enable printer sharing from the windows box. Read the documentation found at www.samba.org for further information.

I don't know a whole lot about programming type stuff, I'm a GUI type. Does anyone know of any web sites that explain linux networking or telnet setups in plain English. I like my linux OS but there is a MAJOR problem with everything being geared toward the greatest level of complexity possible. No linux guru ever gives a simple explanation on how to do something if he can possibly make it technical and difficult. What I have been trying to do for quite awhile now, off and on, is to network my wife's computer which has Windows ME, with my computer which has SuSE. My computer has the internet connection and the printer, both of which I would like to make available to her Windows computer. The more I read about it the less I understand it, I don't even know what the hell they are talking about in most cases. I am sure it IS SIMPLE, if you know what all the jargon means. I don't. When someone asks me if I can "ping" the other computer I just simply don't know if I can or not because I am a complete idiot about these things. I like linux because it works well for what I do and it is stable and best of all it isn't Windows but if I can't configure something as simple as a two computer network without a couple years of computer courses first then there is a problem.

While I understand what you're saying about jargon, etc... I can't agree with your assessment that you may need a "couple of years of computer courses". I am a System Administrator by profession, but I've never stepped foot in a college and never had a computer or programming course. Everything I know I learned out of necessity while in the military and the added bonus is that the education paid off and I was able to turn it into a career outside the military. I learned all of this by reading, learning the jargon, making mistakes and correcting them. I'd love to sit here and write the few pages it would take to tell you exactly what files you need to edit to make this network happen, but you wouldn't learn by parroting the instructions (besides you said you're a "GUI type"). Well, while linux has a GUI, it's strength lies in the CLI (Command Line Interface). You need to visit www.linuxdoc.com and read the how-to's, you need to read the documentation found on www.samba.com and any jargon you find that you don't understand you need to learn. You can find definitions of computing jargon at www.pcwebopedia.com if necessary. But the bottom line is you have to RTFM (you can look that one up first). You can go to www.webmin.com for a great GUI that will assist you in all aspects of administration for you linux box including using Samba's SWAT (Samba Web Administration Tool). That's all the help/advice I can give you. If you're going to use linux you have to learn, you can only learn by reading and doing, not by mimicking commands someone gives you, the only thing that ensures is that you'll be spending large amounts of time on forum boards tryinig to do the next step of a task rather than getting all of the information up front in a how-to.

Ah yes, the linux mystique in action. Dude, I have read the friggin manual, I have read several friggin manuals, and it ain't been a hell of a lot of help on this particular problem. And I AM using linux, have been using it for a couple of months. I like linux and don't intend to quit using it even though I know I will never be a linux guru as I am sure you are. Hell, I don't even WANT to be a linux guru, I just want to be able to set up my operating system to do the basic things that I use a computer for.

I'll be yur huckleberry.

First off, my home network consists of 2 gaming machines and my linux box. The linux box (recently upgraded to redhat 8.0) is where I stuff all the crap that clutters my desktop, it's my NeverWinter server, it's on my network, and it works great.

My gaming machines are running win98 and win2k pro.
I am on a lan behind a cisco router (dsl).

It works.

Respond to these :
You never said whether you could ping your me box from linux, or vice versa.
You said that the network doesn't work with linux. Which I can take a couple of ways - you can't ping anything from your linux box ? Or does that mean that when you fire up your linux box all connectivity on your network stops ?

I can help. So answer this and we'll keep going.

When I try to ping the other computer I get an error message saying unknown host. I am not sure I am using the correct procedure to attempt pinging the other machine. From the shell Konsole I type <ping marta> (marta is the other computer).

I also attempted to ping my linux computer from "marta", which is running Windows ME, by typing "ping linux". That also didn't work. I am sure I am probably not doing it right but all the info I can find on it simply says to test the network by "pinging" the other computers. Something I read said you could ping them by computer name.

The basic network works well when both computers are booted into Windows ME, I can share the internet connection and the printer and everything works.

Linux can be humbling, I can usually work my way through most problems but I seem to be having a real hard time just finding a starting point on this.

OK, I made a little progress. On the linux box I pinged myself and got the following DNS (?) number, 127.0.0.2. Then I did the same thing on the Windows box and got the following; 127.0.0.1. I did this by typing <ping linux> and on the other computer I typed <ping marta>.

From the linux computer I can type<ping 127.0.0.1> and it pings SOMETHING. Same thing from the Win ME computer, I type <ping 127.0.0.2> and it pings something, I presume it is the other computer.

Am I on the right track?

Almost.

127.0.0.1 (localhost) is the loopback on your linux box. It's an internal ip, not relevant to what you're trying to do.

On your winme box, go to start -> run type cmd, or command, whichever works.

Then type ipconfig

This should show you your IP address for that machine.

For your linux box, type ifconfig and get the address for eth0.

You will refer to the machines by these addresses when pinging, connecting etc.

Now, as far as sharing your printer, you'll need samba.

Samba will enable your windows box to view your linux box as another machine on the network, share printers, share drives etc.

You are a newbie, as am I. You 'will' run into problems.

Remember, /usr/bin/man is your friend

OK, I've got my computers pinging each other. I also am able to use telnet to access my linux box from the Win ME 'puter.

Much thanks UberPhreek for the tips and you too d3funct for the links, they were helpful.

Next step is to blunder and cuss my way through samba. I think I also need to set up the route for the network.

hai fstreet,

Ping your linux machine from Windows machine and vice versa

If so,Find whether 'telnet' is installed or not by

rpm -qa |grep telnet

and find the file in 'in.telnetd' from /usr/sbin

Edit the /etc/xinetd.d/telnet as
disable=yes to disable=no

restart xinetd daemon by
/etc/init.d/xinetd restart

run /usr/sbin/xinetd

check, telnet from linux machine,
telnet
or
telnet 0
or
telent localhost

It will show,
Trying to connect 0.0.0.0

Then activate telnet from Windows machine, and give the ip of the Linux Machine