ok i have 7 other computers in my house and they all use winblows, i want to share files between them and my linuxbox, i think the program i am supposed to use is samba? right? all of my XP computers have NTFS drive partitions, will samba still work?
objectives:
1. i want to see files that are being shared on the network by the winblows machines, and be able to copy files from them to my linuxbox
2. i want to have a folder on my linux box that is shared on the network, and that all of the winblows can see and copy things from

is this even possible and if so (and if samba is the right program), were can i find a good tutorial with step by step instructions?

*oops* *PLEASE MOVE TO NETWORKING FORUM*

yes.... samba can do all that.

A good program to control Samba with is webmin,

type URPMI Webmin and download it. Once you start it point your browser to http://localhost:10000
and you can control Samba from there. Its relatively easy to figure out, I've been messing around with it for a while

i can now got to view all computers in workgroup on the win computer and i can see the samba server, but when i click on it to access the files, windows tells me that i do not have sufficient permissions stupid windows...... could it be that i have to make the samba server only accessible by password?

i am still receiving this error, but i think that it is something from the samba server end, do i have to setup individual samba users on the samba server in order for the win computers to access the shared files? I mean to i have to set the samba server to allow the computers on my network to access my linux files?

Hi sherpa,
Google "Samba" and you will get 1000years of reading material.
Also install SWAT, access via System->Configuration->Networking->Samba Configuration(SWAT) and on the home page of SWAT there is plenty of info.
But, what i did was create a NT_home section in my "/" root dir and use that to share files. I called it NT_Share. Accessible by all. No need for passwords etc.
(it's my home lan after all!)
With a bit of reading up you could manually edit smb.conf
eg.
[NT_Share]
comment = NT_Share
path = /NT
create mask = 0777
directory mask = 0777
hosts allow = {my lan addresses}
read only = No
guest ok = yes

This gives me access to music, video, backup space etc.
But webmin and SWAT are easy to understand and use.

cheers.