Wireless Samba networking - newbie

I am a fairly experienced Win98 and Linux operator, but have never set up a
network. The first time any networking knowledge came in handy was a few
years back, when I was trying to help my wife fix her POS, and the shop
girl had inadequate permissions. My machine is mostly Mandriva 2006.

My wife wants to buy a laptop with Windows XP and network it to mine. Pretty
well all laptops on sale have wireless networking installed, and there is
no convenient way to install cables.

It is probably a hard question to answer, but is this something I could set
up myself, or should I call in a professional? They all seem to talk
Windows, anyway.

Doug.

On Mon, 30 Jan 2006 14:25:01 +1100, Doug Laidlaw wrote:

It's not hard to set up a simple network. If you only have a few
computers, then you can configure them all with fixed ip addresses in a
private range (192.168.0.x will do). To fix the ip address on a Debian
box, edit /etc/networks/interfaces. I don't know what it is for Mandriva,
it will be something similar. To fix the ip address in Windows, right
click on My Network Places and select properties. Then chose the network
connection, and again select properties.


Dan


> I am a fairly experienced Win98 and Linux operator, but have never set up
> a network. The first time any networking knowledge came in handy was a
> few years back, when I was trying to help my wife fix her POS, and the
> shop girl had inadequate permissions. My machine is mostly Mandriva 2006.
>
> My wife wants to buy a laptop with Windows XP and network it to mine.
> Pretty well all laptops on sale have wireless networking installed, and
> there is no convenient way to install cables.
>
> It is probably a hard question to answer, but is this something I could
> set up myself, or should I call in a professional? They all seem to talk
> Windows, anyway.
>
> Doug.

Thanks Dan. It is just mine and hers. There is a HOWTO, and a book was
published a couple of years ago. Mandriva has a graphical wizard in
Control Center that I use to configure the "network" between my computer
and the ADSL modem. I am aware that I would need a second NIC for a cable
network, and I assume that a wireless card would take the place of the NIC.

Doug.

Dan N wrote:

> On Mon, 30 Jan 2006 14:25:01 +1100, Doug Laidlaw wrote:
>
> It's not hard to set up a simple network. If you only have a few
> computers, then you can configure them all with fixed ip addresses in a
> private range (192.168.0.x will do). To fix the ip address on a Debian
> box, edit /etc/networks/interfaces. I don't know what it is for Mandriva,
> it will be something similar. To fix the ip address in Windows, right
> click on My Network Places and select properties. Then chose the network
> connection, and again select properties.
>
>
> Dan
>
>
>> I am a fairly experienced Win98 and Linux operator, but have never set up
>> a network. The first time any networking knowledge came in handy was a
>> few years back, when I was trying to help my wife fix her POS, and the
>> shop girl had inadequate permissions. My machine is mostly Mandriva
>> 2006.
>>
>> My wife wants to buy a laptop with Windows XP and network it to mine.
>> Pretty well all laptops on sale have wireless networking installed, and
>> there is no convenient way to install cables.
>>
>> It is probably a hard question to answer, but is this something I could
>> set up myself, or should I call in a professional? They all seem to talk
>> Windows, anyway.
>>
>> Doug.

On Mon, 30 Jan 2006 23:22:03 +1100, Doug Laidlaw wrote:

> Thanks Dan. It is just mine and hers. There is a HOWTO, and a book was
> published a couple of years ago. Mandriva has a graphical wizard in
> Control Center that I use to configure the "network" between my computer
> and the ADSL modem. I am aware that I would need a second NIC for a cable
> network, and I assume that a wireless card would take the place of the
> NIC.

Another possibility is to replace your modem with a modem/router. That
way you can both use the internet. I've got a D-link DSL-G604T, they're
pretty cheap these days. It's got wireless as well as four ports.
Configure it as a DHCP server, configure your PCs to use DHCP. Get a
cable and plug your PC into the router. Very easy.

Dan

>
> Doug.
>
> Dan N wrote:
>
>> On Mon, 30 Jan 2006 14:25:01 +1100, Doug Laidlaw wrote:
>>
>> It's not hard to set up a simple network. If you only have a few
>> computers, then you can configure them all with fixed ip addresses in a
>> private range (192.168.0.x will do). To fix the ip address on a Debian
>> box, edit /etc/networks/interfaces. I don't know what it is for
>> Mandriva, it will be something similar. To fix the ip address in
>> Windows, right click on My Network Places and select properties. Then
>> chose the network connection, and again select properties.
>>
>>
>> Dan
>>
>>
>>> I am a fairly experienced Win98 and Linux operator, but have never set
>>> up a network. The first time any networking knowledge came in handy
>>> was a few years back, when I was trying to help my wife fix her POS,
>>> and the shop girl had inadequate permissions. My machine is mostly
>>> Mandriva 2006.
>>>
>>> My wife wants to buy a laptop with Windows XP and network it to mine.
>>> Pretty well all laptops on sale have wireless networking installed, and
>>> there is no convenient way to install cables.
>>>
>>> It is probably a hard question to answer, but is this something I could
>>> set up myself, or should I call in a professional? They all seem to
>>> talk Windows, anyway.
>>>
>>> Doug.