I would like to set up a home network with ubuntu.can any one point me in the right direction.when I say I am new to ubuntu.Just 2 day's old.

Can you be a little more specific? It's important that you explain clearly what you want to do, is it printing? Filesharing?

Please be more specific.

'set up home netowork' can mean different things - what are you trying to achieve? File sharing, printer sharing, remote management, something else? What is in the network? Do you have a router, what other machines are there, what operating systems are they running? Etc.

Sorry about that.I'll try again.I have a computer in another room connected to a belkin router.with xp and ubuntu on it.I have a laptop with ubuntu on it.I can send data and receive with xp to xp.but can I also send and receive with ubuntu.I hope this helps.Thanks again, Andy

Ok, well in ubuntu, you basically have a thing called SAMBA, which is built into ubuntu. This allows you to use Windows shares. If you go to the 'Places' menu on top left of your screen, you will see an option 'Network'. Click on this, and it will show you windows shares on the local network.

Now, if you want to share a folder, firstly you must own it. In linux, every file and folder has what are known as 'permissions', that is, who owns it, who can read it, who can modify it, and in some special cases, who can execute it (like a program).

A good example is your 'Documents' folder within your 'Home' folder. You definitely own this! To share this on the local network, right click on the folder, and select the 'Sharing Options' option. Fill in the blanks, then test it out on another machine, for example your XP one.

Sharing printers is another days work, it's not so straight forward unfortunately! Let us know how you get on. Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, was away for the weekend!!