ok, supose that im on a small network consisting of 3 computers and a router that we'r all pluged into. (with no dedicated server)

how do i get on that network with linux, i know it takes samba, but im looking for more of a specific answer.

do i need to learn how to administer a samba server just so i can share files with my famly? or is there some simple way to setup file & printer sharing?

What exactly are you asking?

You only need an IP to get onto the network

Samba is an implementation of the SMB(CIFS) protocol that is
common to Windows Networking architecture around which
Workgroups and Domains are structured. Samba would be used
if you'd like to share files with Windows machines if ftp was to
much of a hassle.

Highlight what you're trying to acheive and what OS each computer is running.

Best of luck

Cheers

G

what im trying to acheive is being able to share files & access shared files and a shared printer, these are shared on 2 windows machines, one is 98, and one is XP.

the printer shared via a computer w/ it connected, its not connected directly to the router.

and i dont think that FTP will help me with that printer.

To get access to Linux server from Windows you have to configure Samba server which is quite simple to configure. A complete book on Samba for free is available at http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/samba.../ch01_02.html.

i am not trying to access a linux server from windows!!!!!!!!!!!
did you read the post?

i am trying to access my small household network from my linux machine, and i had heard that this takes samba, mabee im wrong about it taking samba.

but if im wrong, my question still stands.
how do i share files and folders with windows machines, and access shared files and folders on windows machines, from my linux machine?

keeping in mind that my small household network does not have a dedicated server of any type! (unless you count a router as a dedicated server)

well that will take some software to go abotu doing what u want to do...since u have linux and windows in ur home network you can either use ftp to share the files or you can setup samba to be able to talk between the three computers.
i think this is hwat you were asking....if not then forget it.

thats exactly what im asking,

so my question is, do i need to only set up a samba client to do this? cause like every tutorial i see on samba is about seting up a samba server and im like "i dont need a server".

so am i wrong, and i need a server, or am i right and i need a tutorial on seting up my computer as a client to see files that are already shared on our microsoft type network.

when they say samba server. they mean that the samba will serve the files from your box to windows boxes and it will also act as a client by being able to access shares from a windows box onto your linux box.
so yeah i guess you will have to go ahead and setup samba....it is not bad at all...specially if you have a small home network.
here is a link that i found really useful:
http://www.samba.netfirms.com/index.htm
the aouthor here does not use a GUI to make the smb.conf files....u can use either swat or webmin to do the same...however make sure you have samba correctly installled etc.
you can research about swat and webmin in google.
you can get webmin from rpmseek.org or rpmfind.net
swat come with samba...alll you have to do is make sure that inetd or xinetd.d know that it's there and that its listening port(i dont remember exactly) is open...u can do this in /etc/servcies file.
i am not sure if this is the location in red hat too since red hat deos mess around with files quiet a bit.
hope this helps

thanks for clarifying that for me. to may people assume that a person knows as much as they do.

and the link helps also

when i hear the word server i think of a machine dedicated to networking wether it be a microsoft network server, or a unix based web server.

do this somtheing like this: (Assuming RH 8... but should work for other distros)

Create a user on each of your windows machines (I'm assuming that you're not running a domain)
Set the user so that can never change the password, and the password never expires.

Share the correct directories on your machines

On your Linux machine

Edit the file named smb.conf in /etc/samba:
Change the workgroup = line to reflect the name of your workgroup

Check /etc/rc.d/init.d/smb file. Notice the following line:
# chkconfig: - 91 35
This line tells you that the name the start script should be S91smb
There are kill scripts at every run level rc0.d rc6.d, so that's fine (K35smb)
You need to add the links in rc3.d and rc5.d
# cd/etc/rc.d/rc3.d
# ln -s ../init.d/smb S91smb
# cd /etc/rc.d/rc5.d
# ln -s ../init.d/smb S91smb

Now create a directory under /root called sambacredentials
chmod 700 (rwx------) on the directory
Make a file for each share of the form servername-sc-sharename (up to you)
chmod 600 on the file
In the file put the following:
username=value
password=value
Next create directories to act as mount point for each Windows share
i.e. In /mnt create a directory for your win machine and share
e.g. /mnt/machine/share
Lastely, you need a way that the mount to the above directories will automatically take place on startup.
This can be acheived via the fstab file, but here I show how to place the smbmount commands in the /etc/rc.d/rc.local file instead
Therefore add the follwing to the rc.local file for each mapping:
smbmount //winmachinename/share /mnt/machine/share -o credentials=/root/sambacredentials/machinename-sc-sharename

Hope this helps

BR

G

$mount -t smbfs -o username=<winusername>,password=<windpass> //<wind machinename>/<shared folder name> /home/shared

now when you will cd /home/shared it will show you the shared directory of windows.

I hope this and above input will be useful for you.