Re: linux box on XP home network

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Date: 22 Sep 2004 14:13:32 -0700

the black rose <blackrosequilts@netscape.net> wrote in message news:<gte4d.240686$bp1.39250@twister.nyroc.rr.com>...
> Lynn R. Ziegler wrote:
[snip]
> > The red hat
> > machine or the triple boot machine in red hat mode have no trouble with
> > the SAMBA connections. The mandrake machine cannot find any of those
> > machines or ping them, even though it used DHCP to find its internet
> > connection & THAT WORKS FINE. A hint, however. When I try to use the
> > printer configuration tool under drakconf to set up a printer, the
> > wizard shows a message that says: "WARNING: No local network connection
> > active, remote printers can neither be connected or detected!" And, as
> > advertised, the wizard fails to connect to the same SAMBA printer that
> > the red hat on the same machine finds easily.
>
> I gave up on Mandrake on my laptop and tried Fedora Core 2. I can find
> the windows network now. I still can't find the printer. So I think
> I'm now about where you are, problem-wise. I'm a bit clueless, though;
> I'm VERY rusty at all this.
>
> -km

Mandrake is an unknown quantitiy to me, but that should mostly be
differences re: just the distro specific config utils. MDK and Redhat
are otherwise very similar, so may below will help.

First thing is that if you can't ping to another commputer, you can't
reach it, period, sneaker net only, ... you get the picture.

Always start with the computer itself, ie.,
$ ping -c4 127.0.0.1
then try
$ ping -c4 ip.addr.of.computer
if the IP is acquired via DHCP you can find it with
$ /sbin/ifconfig

This simply tells you that the nic is properly initialized with
loopback and IP address.

Now you ping the "nearest" neighbor computer -- one on the same
subnet. If you are using a _switch_ (most likely) all the other
connections are on the same subnet, so ping them one by one with their
IP address (I assume all your lan boxes have a private IP).

If you _do_ have a router things get more complicated as each
connection on the router is to a _different_ subnet and the router
must be correctly configured to forward (ie., route) packets from one
connection (interface) to another. Unless the router is a Linux box,
can't help you here as the commands/configuration will vary depending
on brand/model :( Hopefully this is working OK :)

On Linux there are several commands that will help diagnose what's
going on:
ping << tests connectivity
netstat -nr <<< routing table
/sbin/route <<< routing table
/sbin/ifconfig <<< reports/sets interface config
/usr/sbin/traceroute <<< reports each hop from src to dst

Use man [command] for more info.

Be prepared to send _exact_ output in posts for others to see (you can
obscure public IPs with x.x.35.48 -- leave last two intact).

Go here and get all the howtos -- at least the networking ones -- to
have handy. Everyone should keep a copy on disk.
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/HOWTO-INDEX/
or download ...
http://www.tldp.org/docs.html#howto
http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/other-formats/html_single/Linux-html-single-HOWTOs.tar.gz

Connectivity issues have to be addressed one by one and with exact
info. At this point it _sounds_ like MDK is not properly inializing
the nics at startup. The setup and config files are probably just
like the RH/Fedora ones, but there are several of them scattered
about. Look here for info:

https://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/ << all docs

The Reference and the Customization Guides are good to have around.
The graphical config tools update _all_ the files for you --
recommended for unfamiliar.

If the interface config looks OK and you can ping yourself, then you
have a routing table problem most likely.

If you can't establish connectivity and need help, I suggest you
search the groups on Google then post a new request for help re: just
the connectivity.

Now ... on to accessing Windows shares...

This is KDE only -- don't use Gnome -- so it may depend on whether you
have the proper packages installed (at least both MDK and RH/FC are
rpm based).

[me@pbrain]$ rpm -qa | grep samba
samba-client-3.0.6-3.1.rh80.kde
samba-common-3.0.6-3.1.rh80.kde
samba-swat-3.0.6-3.1.rh80.kde
samba-3.0.6-3.1.rh80.kde

Your specific version may differ but you need these 4 packages. Test
them individually if you wish like this one example:

[me@pbrain]$ rpm -qi samba-client
Name : samba-client Relocations: (not
relocateable)
Version : 3.0.6 Vendor: The KDE-RedHat
Project
Release : 3.1.rh80.kde
blah, blah, blah ...output

If everything is there you should be able to do everyting from the KDE
Control Center.

Since the specific navigation varies with version I hope you can find
these:

Internet & Network -> Local Network Browsing <<< to set up access to
Win

Peripherals -> Printers
   - click Add Printer/Class icon <<< to set up printer access with
Wizard

For both of these you _may_ have to go to Administrator Mode at some
point to supply the root password -- not sure as I don't have a Win
p2p here.

The specific details of setting up access will vary with how you have
the Win shares set up, but default Win shares are pretty generic/easy.
 Try the online help if you need some aid. Also Google for a how-to
article like the one in the first post. If that still doesn't help,
try the Samba docs for some guidance. Have a drink ;-)

If you post to the groups include what you _have_ done as accurately
as possible along with symptoms and where you think it's failing.
Hint: people will probably ask for proof that connectivity is
established, so send along ping output. Maybe traceroute too.

Be aware that there are other network browsers available that may be
easier/better -- I can't say as I don't use 'em. The commandline has
been sufficient for my limited uses for file access. Printing --
you're on your own.

In KDE Help nav (left) panel select Control Center Modules and find
(in the right panel) Windows Shares. For help with printing select
Application Manuals and in the right panel locate Settings -> KDE
Printing Manager and in the index page select "7. The Add Printer
Wizard for CUPS". Have another drink ;-)

Good luck.

hth,
prg
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