How do I get my linux comp to successfully network with my winxp computers? I want to share printing, but so far, all my efforts to set up a network have failed.


The computer in question is a double booting mandrake/winxp box. Networking works fine in winxp to other winxp boxes on the network, but how do I get the linux box to communicate with my winxp box (which my printer is hooked to?)

I seriously doubt that winxp has a feature that will allow me to communicate with linux (why would it-- ms wants to keep people in the dark about open source) but i would expect that linux would have such a feature that would allow it to communicate with windows. (dealing with windows machines is a necessary evil for any linux network, after all, unless youre on a pure linux network)

How would i set up this network. and how would I get my remote printer working in linux?

Here's the facts:

-My linux terminal is mandrake 10 with KDE. it is on a machine that also has Xp corporate installed.
-My printer model is an HP PSC 1315.
-The oprinter is connected to the other computer on my network, which ruins XP corporate.
-there are 2 computers on the network.
-My network uses the netbeui protocol when windows is on. Can linux use this, or must I switch to a new protocol?
-For my printer to network properly, both computers must be on b/c all data sent to the printer must travel through my other computer.
-My computers are networked throughh a wired 10mbs ethernet line hooked up to a belkin router.



------------------
I have found that you can transform your character solely by the power of belief: as you believe yourself to be, so you shall become over time.

EVERYBODY SAMBA!

------------------
There is no signature

/me does the Samba...

------------------
Dear lady, can you hear the wind blow, and did you know
Your stairway lies on the whispering wind.
:wq!

I know about samba, but i could never get it to work.



------------------
I have found that you can transform your character solely by the power of belief: as you believe yourself to be, so you shall become over time.

That's more of a problem with you than a problem with Linux or Windows, isn't it?

maybe... you try using linux without a damn manual to help you out...

So much of it is still new to me. I'm a Graphic Design artist by nature, not an IT specialist.



------------------
I have found that you can transform your character solely by the power of belief: as you believe yourself to be, so you shall become over time.

I've never actually messed with it, but I believe it should run on most distros quite well. What distro are you running?

------------------
There is no signature

[Edit: This will allow the Windows XP machines to see a share on the Linux machines.
It will also help you, but not set up, to look at shares from the XP machines]

[Edit mark 2: This uses NetBios. As far as I know there isnt much difference between NetBEIU and NetBios]

Ok well first, you must be using an IP addressing scheme.

WinXP will do its own thing wihtout you telling it.
It will use what is called APIPA (Automatic Private Internet Protocol Addressing). This uses the address 169.254.x.x.

When combining linux and windows, this will not work.
So first, assign a private ip addressing scheme to all your computer.
Typical settings:
Ip addess 192.168.0.1 -> 254
Subnet mask 255.255.255.0

Now comes the fun.
First, download and install Samba (www.samba.org)
Once you have done that, go to /usr/local/samba/lib and make a file called smb.conf

This is the contents of my smb.conf:


[global]
workgroup = HOME
netbios name = FileServer
encrypt passwords = yes
security = user
allow host 192.168.0.
os level = 255

[homes]
comment=Home directory for %U
path=/home/%U/Shared
writeable = yes
force group = users
force user = %U
valid users = %U
browseable = no

[Public]
path=/files/Shared
force group = users
writeable = yes
~


I suggest you work through the config file I have posted above, by typing "man samba" in the console after you have installed samba.
This is the manual page.
Alternativly, do a search for "man samba" on google, and you will get the same thing.

Once you have done the config file, you must add a user using normal linux methods (adduser), then add a user in samba (smbpasswd -a username).

Then, you start the samba daemons, and voila. It will work. Probably. Maybe. Well... we can only hope

------------------
Founder of the Massassi Brute Squad (MBS)

B'tduz: A popular dwarfish game which consists of standing a few feet apart and throwing large rocks at one another's head.

"Yes, it's a bloody flying alligator setting fire to my city!" - His Grace His Excellency the Duke of Ankh, Commander Sir Samuel Vimes.

Morituri Nolumus Mori

[This message has been edited by SithNazgul (edited August 21, 2004).]

[This message has been edited by SithNazgul (edited August 21, 2004).]

Mandrake 10

------------------
I have found that you can transform your character solely by the power of belief: as you believe yourself to be, so you shall become over time.

Mandrake? That's your first problem. Knoppix is awesome for n00bs, much more friendly. Its package management is the hotness.

But still, samba should work on 'drake.

------------------
There is no signature

I would have to disagree. I think that Mandrake is just as user-friendly as Knoppix, if not more.

------------------
Your humble opinion is wrong.

Are you using CUPS for printing? If so, you can just set it up so you can print to an IP address. The Windows clients can just print to the IP of the Linux box. Otherwise, your best bet is Samba. Set the security to share level and allow the guest to use the printer; should eliminate the need to login everytime you want to print. I would suggest reading the documentation at http://www.samba.org

If you take the time to read the documentation, you'll see that it doesn't take too long to set up.

------------------
[This message has been edited. Deal with it.]

you have it backwards, I think. the printer is hooked up to a winxp machine.




------------------
I have found that you can transform your character solely by the power of belief: as you believe yourself to be, so you shall become over time.

Not at all. I tried Mandrake, horrible packet management from what I saw. apt-get is so damned easy it's insane.

------------------
There is no signature

Despite how easy apt-get is, emerge is still easier.

You don't have to deal with obtaining more sources for portage, while apt-get rarely has the packages I want. (Such as mplayer)

While apt-get is definately better than nothing, emerge is soooo much better it isn't funny.

------------------
"The future is not determined by a throw of the dice, but is determined by the conscious decisions of you and me."
I am addicted to ellipses!!! AHHH!!! ...
Make Sorrowind Worthwhile... join it! http://sorrowind.net

Right, I haven't done that.

This week.

I use Gentoo....

------------------
Your humble opinion is wrong.

I'm not sure about printing, but for accessing shares on a Windows machine, all you need to do is mount it. I read tons of documents about a lot of complex crap and found all it took was one simple command. I believe it's

mount -t smbfs /mnt/whatever //xpmachine//share

And then there are additional parameters you'll want on the end for username and stuff like that, if you even need it at all. Maybe Google "mounting Samba shares" could help. I remember making a share on a Linux machine was incredibly easy, much easier than most of the docs made it seem. But I forget how to do that.

------------------
Bassoon, n. A brazen instrument into which a fool blows out his brains.

Wrong.

mount -t smbfs //xpmachine/share /mnt/whatever


..Then, for the username...

mount -t smbfs //xpmachine/share -o username=User -o uid=LOCAL_ACCOUNT -o gid=LOCAL_GROUP -o fmask=777 dmask=777 /mnt/whatever

LOCAL_ACCOUNT and LOCAL_GROUP are your Linux username and group to mount the share as.

------------------
Dear lady, can you hear the wind blow, and did you know
Your stairway lies on the whispering wind.
:wq!

Quoted for truth.

Problem is getting Gentoo INSTALLED.

------------------
There is no signature

No, you have it backwards. You want the Linux machine to be the host, trust me.

Otherwise, there should be a way to host via IP through Windows, but I don't know offhand. Samba might be ok, but I find it a bit flaky.

------------------
[This message has been edited. Deal with it.]

Gentoo installation is very well documented. It is very easy and you have controll over everything you do.
And as a plus you learn very much alone from installing the system. Many Suse-users are stuck when they have to do more than just click a few icons.

------------------
Sorry for the lousy English

I don't have samba installed at home, but for the 9 months I worked at Real Networks, we used samba all day every day without a hitch. Basically, we all had "development" directories on a server that were then served up and connected to the database by our dev server. So I did all my file editing over the network (so yeah, it was used all the time).

That said, I don't know how printer sharing works, sorry.

No, the problem is that there are people out there in this world that havn't done a Gentoo install before, and are therefore missing out on an extremely enriching experience.

------------------
Your humble opinion is wrong.

no, people just want a fully automated, no technical bulls*** experience.




------------------
I have found that you can transform your character solely by the power of belief: as you believe yourself to be, so you shall become over time.

Come on. Doing a Gentoo Install makes you feel BADASS.

------------------
Your humble opinion is wrong.

[This message has been edited by Mystic0 (edited August 23, 2004).]

Yeah. And it takes 3 days. I'm sorry, the last thing I did that took 3 days to make me feel badass was destroying Starcraft in every way possible. And I didn't even play it all day.

------------------
There is no signature

Meh, a stage 1 install takes me about 1.5 days on my Pentium 4 2.6 GHz. Every second of it is worth it, too -- you learn so much.

------------------
Your humble opinion is wrong.

[This message has been edited by Mystic0 (edited August 23, 2004).]