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Getting a Vista laptop and a laptop with Linux together as network - how?

jmd
Grafter
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Getting a Vista laptop and a laptop with Linux together as network - how?

Was not sure what category this question came under so posted it generally!
Right - now have a shiny Dell laptop with Vista[which at some point will be upgraded to W7] and old Sony with Linux Ubuntu on it.  I use a wifi printer and that is linked to both computers via my router.  Can I  link the 2 computers so that I can send files to one from other?  or do I still use a flashdrive and take it upstairs and plug it in the other laptop?  am I just wishing to be lazy or is it possible please?
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MisterW
Superuser
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Re: Getting a Vista laptop and a laptop with Linux together as network - how?

Quote
Can I  link the 2 computers so that I can send files to one from other?

Yes, you should be able to. You use the samba package(s) on the Ubuntu laptop to provide Windows file sharing facilities.
See here for some starting information https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SettingUpSamba
I certainly use it to provide network file access between my Ubuntu m/c and and both Win2k & XP systems.
I've no direct experience of Vista but it shouldnt be a problem AFAIK.
Hope that helps get you started.

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VileReynard
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Re: Getting a Vista laptop and a laptop with Linux together as network - how?

There are many ways....
Since the shiny new computer has Windows on it, I suspect you'd prefer to use Windows protocols:-
Have a look at the SAMBA Linux package which allows Linux to see shared drives on your Windows computer.
This also allows printing to a printer attached to a remote PC - if you had one.
More simply, you could set up FTP servers on your PC's (easy on Linux, not sure about Windows).
This would allow you to send data files in between your PC's.
Simplest of all, for occasional use with smallish files and spare internet allocation would be to use a free service
such as https://www.getdropbox.com/help (there are others) which allows you to synchronise files across
multiple computers.

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HairyMcbiker
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Re: Getting a Vista laptop and a laptop with Linux together as network - how?

By default Ubuntu has samba installed. Just right click on the folder you want to share, choose the Properties,Sharing tab, and click on "Share this folder", you can give it a name if you want as well.
To make it easy and since you are behind a firewall (your router) click on Guest Access as well, and the "Allow other people to write" tick box. This allows you to read/write to the Ubuntu box from the WIndows box, From there click on Network (under Explorer) and then entire network/Workgroup and you should see the Ubuntu machine name appear.
The reverse I will allow someone who uses windows to do Grin
jmd
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Re: Getting a Vista laptop and a laptop with Linux together as network - how?

Did as you said on the Ubuntu machine biker but nothing shows on Windows machine?
VileReynard
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Re: Getting a Vista laptop and a laptop with Linux together as network - how?

Can you see the Linux machine from whatever M$ call "Network Places" these days?

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HairyMcbiker
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Re: Getting a Vista laptop and a laptop with Linux together as network - how?

It might be under "Workgroup" in the Network places.
Also check that the windows firewall allows the local network.
jmd
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Re: Getting a Vista laptop and a laptop with Linux together as network - how?

No - Windows Vista does not show anything under workgroup/network etc.........
am using Kapersky so their firewall is on instead of Windows?............
HairyMcbiker
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Re: Getting a Vista laptop and a laptop with Linux together as network - how?

Again check that the local network is allowed in the firewall, not familiar with K so can't help you there.
Other to check is you can ping the Ubuntu machine by name, open a command prompt and type in ping <name of Ubuntu machine> You should get 4 lines of pings back with 100% success if not then we need to look deeper.
jmd
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Re: Getting a Vista laptop and a laptop with Linux together as network - how?

dont have a clue what you mean by "ping"!  sorry............... but will have a look at the Kapersky stuff.
VileReynard
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Re: Getting a Vista laptop and a laptop with Linux together as network - how?

start a command entry screen on the windows machine and type
ping xxxxx
(where xxxxx is either the name or ip address of the Linux PC).
This is a good way of proving a connection between any two machines.

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HairyMcbiker
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Re: Getting a Vista laptop and a laptop with Linux together as network - how?

Just press "Window Key" and R together, or start menu click on run, and type in cmd, and press ok.
This will open a black screen with a C:> type prompt in it,
Type in "ping " and then the name of the other computer,
example:-
ping torry
PING torry.lan (192.168.1.71) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from Torry.lan (192.168.1.71): icmp_seq=1 ttl=64
64 bytes from Torry.lan (192.168.1.71): icmp_seq=2 ttl=64
64 bytes from Torry.lan (192.168.1.71): icmp_seq=3 ttl=64
64 bytes from Torry.lan (192.168.1.71): icmp_seq=4 ttl=64
--- torry.lan ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% packet loss, time 3
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.134/0.164/0.178/0.019 ms

Here torry is the name of another pc in my network.
You should see something like the above.
jmd
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Re: Getting a Vista laptop and a laptop with Linux together as network - how?

Sorry about this - but the name of the other computer  - do you mean make? or IP address?  If IP address - where do I find that?  the printer was easy - I just asked for network status and it printed it out. But the other laptop?
HairyMcbiker
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Re: Getting a Vista laptop and a laptop with Linux together as network - how?

When you setup the Ubuntu machine it would ask for a name to identify it,
OR on the Ubuntu machine open a terminal (Applications/Terminal) and type in ifconfig
you should see something like this-
ifconfig
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:1a:4d:92:16:d0 
        inet addr:192.168.1.67  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::21a:4dff:fe92:16d0/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:74842606 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:60131908 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:2012726679 (2.0 GB)  TX bytes:982972309 (982.9 MB)
          Interrupt:254 Base address:0xe000
lo        Link encap:Local Loopback 
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:1459 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:1459 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:176893 (176.8 KB)  TX bytes:176893 (176.8 KB)
The bit I have highlighted is the ip address of this machine (Running Mint but basically the same)
On the Vista machine open the cmd window (see above) and type in ping <What ever your Ubuntu machine says is its ip address>
If it returns something like I have posted above for torry then we are a little further forward. If it just says IP address not found or similar then the firewall may be blocking the local lan.
jmd
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Re: Getting a Vista laptop and a laptop with Linux together as network - how?

right - it says when I input ifconfig;
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:01:4a:c1:c4:27  
         UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
         RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
         TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
         collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
         RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
So no number shown?