Linux - Windows network

[junkdog]

Hi..

Is there a simple way to network Linux - Windows just to copy over some files..
I used Pmagic, and it crashed, turning one of my partitions into an unrecognisable one to windows.. linux can see the partition and I really need to get some files on it over to another pc..
Im using Mandrake 7.2 and have both win98 & 2k installed on the other pc..

Many Thanx

JD

[stepdad]

Actually I can think of several ways to alleviate this problem.

Samba : You can setup Samba under Linux and network your working windows system into it.

FTP: Copy the files on the linux box into a directory accessible by the FTP server (if you didn't setup the FTP server originally, you can do so now). Connect both machines to the internet and FTP the files from the Linux machine onto the windows machine.

Loop de Loop: This is probably the most simple solution available. Register for some free online storage space at MySpace, Xoom or other provider. Upload the files from the linux machine, then download them to the Windows Box.

CD-Rom: If you have a CD burner available you can burn the files onto a CD-R or RW from the linux box, then copy them to the windows machine that way.

There is yet another option that might work. If your linux partition is on a seperate physical hard drive you can reinstall windows on the first physical hard drive, then boot to linux using a floppy and use lilo to configure the machine for multiple boot. Once windows is reinstalled you can boot to Linux and recopy the files to the now usable windows partition. Note that this will only be feasible if your Linux Partition is on a seperate *physical* drive, and it would be best to disconnect the drive with Linux on it before reinstalling windows. Please note you will need Linux boot disks before performing this operation.

If not, it might be possible (though risky, as I've never tried it) to use the Linux FDISK utility to redo the Windows partition before reinstalling windows, though if your MBR (master boot record) was corrupted as well this would probably not work too well. Linux is fairly robust but Windows is extremely finicky about it's boot partition, and has a tendancy to dislike non-dos partitions in the extreme.

If none of these solutions are practical let me know and we'll see what else we can come up with.

Stepdad

[junkdog]

Thanx Stepdad..
Could you tell me more about..
Samba : You can setup Samba under Linux and network your working windows system into it.

some of the solution wont work well as a few of the files are very big

[stepdad]

Samba is an implementation of the SMB network protocol. Without getting too technical, it basically makes your Windows box think that your linux machine is a windows style server. Pretty slick little utility. Linux Mandrake does come with a copy of Samba on the installation disks, and you can find all the information about how to set it up and use it here:
www.samba.org (http://www.samba.org)

You'll also find some GUI utilities that make setting up and administering samba very easy.

Hopefully that helps.

Stepdad

[junkdog]

Thanx again Stepdad...ill check that out

[teeitup]

Two good resources to get started.

Linux Journal's "Tux knows it's nice to share" parts 5 - 8.
http://www2.linuxjournal.com/cgi-bin/frames.pl/articles/sysadmin/0055.html

O'Reilly's Samba book on line.
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/samba/chapter/book/index.html

Good Luck,