simple home network

[jondice]

I am currently running a home network with windows me and windows 98 because thats what my family prefers. I am going to switch my machine over to linux redhat. is it easy to connect to a microsoft network for home purposes without setting up a server or anything?

[mstich]

What kind of services are you looking to use? If you want printer and file sharing you can use samba which isn't very difficult to setup. In most cases you probably won't need a dedicated server.

[jondice]

exactly all i want is file and printer sharing. can i do it using the os or should i use some third party networking software. i would prefer not to if possible

[mstich]

Use samba, here is the NHF for setting it up on your linux box.
http://www.linuxnewbie.org/nhf/intel/network/samba/samba1.html

[ph34r]

If you have a dedicated connection, you could eventually swing a low end machine doing firewall/gateway/sharing of the connect. Thats the great thing about linux - it can do damm near everything.

[CRT_Monkey]

Originally posted by ph34r:
If you have a dedicated connection, you could eventually swing a low end machine doing firewall/gateway/sharing of the connect. Thats the great thing about linux - it can do damm near everything.


:D :D :D

[jondice]

ok i see most people sugest samba. now do i need to change anything on my microsoft machines or just leave those?

[dosh8er]

hey, i've got a question too. Could you use the windoze machine for a connection to the internet, and then use the linux machine to access the internet via the network you set up? I'm not actually going to attempt to try this, but i'm curious as to if it's possible.

Is it?