My Xubuntu laptop connects to the internet via my Ubuntu laptop with a crossover cable, but I can't see files on each other. I can't even find a networking brownser on Xubuntu. Am I blind?

From the Ubuntu Forum~

Xubuntu's File Manager (Thunar) does not support network / Samba browsing like Nautilus or Konqueror do. I found this out recently when I tried Xubuntu on an older computer (AMD 500 MHz / 128 RAM) and quickly switched (I found a few other features lacking). Apparently it's on the wishlist for a future version, but I needed it now. Kubuntu actually runs faster on it but that's another story...

Anyway as far as network shares, you have 2 options (aside from using the terminal to navigate):

1. Mount the network share locally so Thunar can see it as a "local" drive and you navigate to it (recommended). Here's (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...highlight=cifs) a thread outlining how to do that (using cifs instead of smbfs).
2. Intall another file manager (like xffm4, Nautilus, etc.) that has network browsing capability. Here's (http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthre...=xubuntu+samba) a thread outlining how to install Nautilus in Xubuntu.

Method # 2 is not as efficient as method # 1 (you have to install a lot of the Gnome components required with Nautilus), but if you frequently visit different network locations where it's not feasible to mount them permanently using fstab, it may be better for you.

http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-250332.html

Hope this helps...

Other methods known to work for Xubuntu:

use fusesmb How to: Xubuntu - Thunar Native Windows Network Browsing

or

use pyNeighborhood Xubuntu Browsing Samba Shares with pyNeighborhood

or simplest of all use smbc screenshot

Why is samba being used between two Linux boxes? NFS is a much better and simpler choice.

Another nice solution suitable for *nix only environment is to use sshfs It's very simple and ideal if you are using your own machines (you already have accounts and possibly already have ssh server running) and on recent Ubuntu releases fuse is already installed and configured by default so there's almost nothing to do, can be up and running in a few minutes. Performance seems excellent to me (transparent).