Linux + Win98 Home Network Query

[Ahimsa]

Greetings

I am steadily working my way through these notices and the NHFs, so my apologies if I am retracing old ground.

I am contemplating setting up a home mini-network between two machines. I am currently set up as such, but both machines are Win98s. I am wanting to install RH7.2 onto the machine that is currently the server (so I'll refer to it as main), while the second machine will remain Win98 (I'll call that the sub). The main machine has an Acer CDRW, is hooked up to an HPDJ 840C printer, and is connected to the external modem. I would like to set it up in such a way that the sub machine can still print, can write CDs, and even dial-up to the Net for email and surfing, all from Win98, even though the printer and CDRW are hooked into the Linux box. Similarly, I am also wanting the Linux machine to be able to print, write CDs and access the Net. Beyond that, there is no reason for the two machines to be able to interact.

My questions come down to these then:
1. How realistic is this for a newbie to set up, or does one have to qualify with a MSc Computer Science first? :D
2. Is it feasible that the Win98 machine ("sub machine") will be able to write CDs, if the CDRW itself is located in the Linux box ("main machine")?
3. Is is possible that both the Win98 and the Linux machines can both access the Net at the same time on a dial-up modem connection that is hooked into the Linux box?

Recently, Loki3 posted a similar question, but I required a little more specific detail. I am in the midst of trying to catch up on the wild and wooly world (at least from a newbie's perspective!) of Samba, and smbd and nmbd, and TCP/IP layers, and ... you get the drift. :confused:

I was hoping for some input from others here so that if it isn't feasible then I can redirect my attentions to other possible arrangements. Also, if anyone has come across any *really* good HOW-TOs that would be specific (or pretty darn close) to my query, that would be a bonus. I'm trying to track them down, but getting them to make sense is the challenge!!

All the best

[x]

This is not very difficult to do, but of course it depends on exactly how much newbie you are?
1. Install RH.
Make sure both NIC's work & have correct IP before you continue.
(This is true all the way through: Do one thing at the time, don't try to set up several services at once because you'll end up not knowing where something has gone wrong.)
Use static IP's, like 192.168.100.x / 24

I believe you need Samba to share printer etc with Windows, it shouldn't be that hard to set up, though I haven't tried yet. There's lots of good documentation included with RH72.

2. I don't know if you can write CD's this way?

3. There is no problem technically to connect to the Internet from both computers at the same time, but with a modem connection it will be very, very slow..
You need two things: a) dial-on-demand on main, or you will have to dial-up manually.
b) ipmasquerading on main, use it as a proxy if you like. This is because you get one adress out, but need to separate them inside.
(Also your ISP may not like this idea, they don't allow it here - but they can't stop it and I don't think they have the right to do that either!)

I'm afraid I'm not being very specific, but honestly it's the best I can say for now:
Install RH - don't remove Win98 until everything is running.
Test the connection between main & sub

Install the printer, make sure it works.
Set up Internet connection from main, when it works read about dial-on-demand. (Could be a problem)
If you have problems, make sure sub has main as default gateway, connect to Internet from main then try accessing Internet from sub.
Read about Samba, configure it.

When (not if... ;) you get stuck, you know where to turn!

[michaelk]

It isn't difficult at all to network computers. As a note RH 7.2 installs a firewall by default. You will need to change its configuration for access to the linux machine.

2. I assume that you want to write CDRW's directly with data from the network machine. I am not positive about the latest burnproof CDRW's but with most it will fail because the network throughput is not high enough. Most likely you will need to copy the data to the linux box and then use some remote access like telnet or VNC to accomplish the actual writing.

[Ahimsa]

Hey thanks for replying to my query. This is helpful. I'm saving your messages to work through in more detail, so if you have any further ideas/do's and don'ts to pass along, I'm definitely in the market. I have vague anxieties lurking about losing everything. I'm using Linux on a third machine right now so I'd have to wipe off my Win98SE from my primary machine!! Eeek - there goes my security blanket!!
Anyway, thanks.

[fancypiper]

I get much better cd burns in Linux than with Windows.

Just set up Samba and put anything you want to burn from Windows there, then cdrecord it (command line) or use xcdroast in x.

:) Gentoo :)

[Ahimsa]

Hiya FancyPiper - read your paper on HDD tweaking. I currently have a post on another LNBB about the results: it seems that my HDD is given to performance optimising!! Hmmm.

I guess that I would be using the Linux RH default CDRW instead of the Adaptec stuff that came with the CDRW?

Anyway, thanks for the help folks. I liked the 'when' I need help part there 'x'. Sounds like fun lies ahead.
And yes, I will certainly be coming back here *when* I need help!!!

All the best