Very basic LAN question

I have 2 computers (desktop and laptop) both working via a wireless
router and ADSL modem. These are fine by themselves.

I should like to be able to access files on each computer from the other
and also print to the printer on the desktop via the laptop.

Question: what is the easiest way to do this? Would NFS be the best
solution? I've tried to use telnet but cannot even make a connection
with the computer I'm using, let alone the other.

Sorry for this very basic query but, having read numerous HOWTOs about
networking I'm more confused than I was at the beginning. Any
suggestions please about the best place to start (telnet, NFS, what?)

I'm not asking for hand-holding - just some pointers for where to begin.

--
Using Linux GNU/Debian - Windows-free zone
http://www.acampbell.org.uk (blog, book reviews,
Assassins, homeopathy, and skeptical articles).
Email: ac<at>acampbell.org.uk

> I'm not asking for hand-holding - just some pointers for where to begin.

Well, I guess both the pc's are loaded with linux. NFS is really a good
choice when you try to access huge files at a go.
http://nfs.sourceforge.net/nfs-howto/server.html
But ftp isn't bad at all when you have smaller transfers. For linux
printing, start here at
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Oper...inux_Printing/


Should you have one windows here, try SAMBA.

--
Raqueeb Hassan
Bangladesh

On 2005-09-15, Raqueeb Hassan <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>> I'm not asking for hand-holding - just some pointers for where to begin.
>
> Well, I guess both the pc's are loaded with linux. NFS is really a good
> choice when you try to access huge files at a go.
> http://nfs.sourceforge.net/nfs-howto/server.html
> But ftp isn't bad at all when you have smaller transfers. For linux
> printing, start here at
> http://www.experts-exchange.com/Oper...inux_Printing/
>
>
> Should you have one windows here, try SAMBA.
>
> --
> Raqueeb Hassan
> Bangladesh
>

Yes. I should have said: both are Linux.

--
Using Linux GNU/Debian - Windows-free zone
http://www.acampbell.org.uk (blog, book reviews,
Assassins, homeopathy, and skeptical articles).
Email: ac<at>acampbell.org.uk

> I've tried to use telnet but cannot even make a connection
> with the computer I'm using, let alone the other.

Try ssh - it's more likely to be up and running. Telnet isn't very
secure (no encryption, including for passwords), and so
- the server is often not installed
- when it is installed, xinetd doesn't run it by default
- the telnet port is often blocked at the firewall

On 2005-09-15, Allen McIntosh <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>> I've tried to use telnet but cannot even make a connection
>> with the computer I'm using, let alone the other.
>
> Try ssh - it's more likely to be up and running. Telnet isn't very
> secure (no encryption, including for passwords), and so
> - the server is often not installed
> - when it is installed, xinetd doesn't run it by default
> - the telnet port is often blocked at the firewall


I did try ssh previously but I couldn't get it to work. Specifically, it
would not recognize either machine from the other.

One computer is on 192.168.0.20 and the other on 192.168.0.22.
I've tried putting entries for these in /etc/hosts.allow and /etc/hosts
but still I can't ping between them. I'm sure there is a very simple
reason for this but after many attempts (intermittent) over a number of
months I've never discovered what it is.

--
Using Linux GNU/Debian - Windows-free zone
http://www.acampbell.org.uk (blog, book reviews,
Assassins, homeopathy, and skeptical articles).
Email: ac<at>acampbell.org.uk

Anthony Campbell wrote:

> I have 2 computers (desktop and laptop) both working via a wireless
> router and ADSL modem. These are fine by themselves.
>
> I should like to be able to access files on each computer from the other
> and also print to the printer on the desktop via the laptop.
>
> Question: what is the easiest way to do this? Would NFS be the best
> solution? I've tried to use telnet but cannot even make a connection
> with the computer I'm using, let alone the other.

I would set up a WiFi connection between the two computers,
and use ssh to get from one computer to the other.
CUPS should then allow you to print from the laptop.

You should not use telnet - it is probably disallowed
for security reasons anyway.

Personally I would not use NFS for this.

--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail (<80k only): tim /at/ birdsnest.maths.tcd.ie
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

Anthony Campbell wrote:

>
> I did try ssh previously but I couldn't get it to work. Specifically, it
> would not recognize either machine from the other.
>
> One computer is on 192.168.0.20 and the other on 192.168.0.22.
> I've tried putting entries for these in /etc/hosts.allow and /etc/hosts
> but still I can't ping between them.

Maybe an inappropiate subnetmask? (should be 255.255.255.0)

Can you give the result of the ifconfig command? (on both machines)
The routing table might also help (get it with "route").

---<(kaimartin)>---
--
Kai-Martin Knaak
http://lilalaser.dyndns.org/blog

Anthony Campbell wrote:

> I should have said: both are Linux.

Which distribution?

---<(kaimartin)>---
--
Kai-Martin Knaak
http://lilalaser.dyndns.org/blog

Anthony Campbell wrote:

> I did try ssh previously but I couldn't get it to work. Specifically, it
> would not recognize either machine from the other.

You may have to enable it, before it can be used.
>
> One computer is on 192.168.0.20 and the other on 192.168.0.22.
> I've tried putting entries for these in /etc/hosts.allow and /etc/hosts
> but still I can't ping between them. I'm sure there is a very simple
> reason for this but after many attempts (intermittent) over a number of
> months I've never discovered what it is.

If you can't ping, you can't do anything else. It's hard to say why you
can't if both computers are capable of reaching the internet, unless you've
got a firewall running on them, which is blocking ping and everything else.

On 2005-09-15, Kai-Martin <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> Anthony Campbell wrote:
>
>>
>> I did try ssh previously but I couldn't get it to work. Specifically, it
>> would not recognize either machine from the other.
>>
>> One computer is on 192.168.0.20 and the other on 192.168.0.22.
>> I've tried putting entries for these in /etc/hosts.allow and /etc/hosts
>> but still I can't ping between them.
>
> Maybe an inappropiate subnetmask? (should be 255.255.255.0)
>
> Can you give the result of the ifconfig command? (on both machines)
> The routing table might also help (get it with "route").
>
> ---<(kaimartin)>---


I do have that netmask.

ifconfig:

ac:/usr/share/doc/HOWTO/en-txt:$ ifconfig
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0B:2B:02:32:FB
inet addr:192.168.0.20 Bcast:192.168.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:74297 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:72098 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:14942931 (14.2 MiB) TX bytes:5628161 (5.3 MiB)
Interrupt:11 Base address:0xe000

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:1083 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:1083 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:80919 (79.0 KiB) TX bytes:80919 (79.0 KiB)


route:
Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
192.168.0.0 * 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 eth0
default 192.168.0.1 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 eth0


I've tried turning off the firewall (shorewall) but this does not make
any difference.

--
Using Linux GNU/Debian - Windows-free zone
http://www.acampbell.org.uk (blog, book reviews,
Assassins, homeopathy, and skeptical articles).
Email: ac<at>acampbell.org.uk