On Sun, 08 Jun 2008 20:54:05 -0400, jim wrote:
> Dammit! I want so badly to get the hell away from Windows, that I am
> spending ALL of my spare time trying out different Linux distros.
>
> I tried xubuntu for a day or so - bad graphics.
>
> I tried backtrack - not all that it's cracked up to be.
Linux is like Pepsi. You have Caffine-free, Diet, Cherry, etc. but it's
all still brown-colored soda pop. They are all basically the same in
many areas. Just pick one and make it work.
> I am now trying Ubuntu 8.04 and I'll just be ****ed if the simple stuff
> isn't still hard in Linux!!
>
> This is what I would like.... With my XP Pro laptop, connecting to a
> wireless network and browsing shared folders was as easy as clicking
> "Connect to network" slecting the wireless network and clicking "Connect".
> If there was a required key or password, Windows asked for it. You supply
> the info and Windows simply connects to the network.
I just spent 4 hours trying to help someone get their Windows XP to
connect to a wireless router and then get their laptop and the router all
talking WPA. It was anything but easy: I kept getting "Wizards",
hand-holding this, training wheels that, when all I wanted was to set WPA
on the wireless network. In Linux, that's like one command on a command
line. But there I was, awash in a river of GUI and menus up the wha-zoo.
The laptop auto-connects alright - to someone else's network! Let's hope
they didn't mind too much.
> You can then open Windows Explorer and browse any shared folders that
> are not password protected.
[ jayjwa@vdrl:~>] smbclient -A ~/.smbauth -L //atr2
Domain=[ATR2NET] OS=[Unix] Server=[Samba 3.0.30]
Sharename Type Comment
--------- ---- -------
cifs Disk CIFS/SMB global public root
share Disk Incoming/uploadable storage space
IPC$ IPC IPC Service ([ATr2 RG 2008/06/16 00:32:16] atr2 SMB/CIFS 3.0.30.)
jayjwa Disk Home Directories
Domain=[ATR2NET] OS=[Unix] Server=[Samba 3.0.30]
Server Comment
--------- -------
ATR2 [ATr2 RG 2008/06/16 00:30:04] atr2 SMB/CIFS 3.0.
VDRL [ATr2 RG 2008/06/10 19:39:31] vdrl SMB/CIFS 3.0.
Workgroup Master
--------- -------
ATR2NET VDRL
then connecting is just smbclient -A ~/.smbauth //machine-name/folder.
smbclient works like an ftp client.
Samba handles Windows sharing stuff in Linux.
> This is BASIC functionality that ALL Windows users NEED. What the hell
> is this samba configuration crap?
>
> I must be missing something here.
1. Install the collection of tools that give the function you want
2. Fill out their config files, if they have any.
3. Run the programs, which read the config files.
Many (most?) apps in Linux find out what you want them to do by reading a
configuration file. That is either system-wide, usually in /etc/, or
user-specific, in under ~/. If there is no config file, you usually use
command line switches. Many apps you can run with "--help" to see options.
> PLEASE tell me I am missing something here and that connecting to a
> network and browsing shared folders really IS just as easy in Linux as
> in Windows.
You're missing about a month's worth of exclusive Linux use and
corresponding manual/howto/website/newsgroup-reading. That's about how
long it took me when I gave Windows the boot. It might have been a bit
faster because I killed Windows completely: if I wanted something done, it
*had* to be done in Linux.
Linux is like a box of tools that you can use to harness the power of
computer hardward and make it do anything you might need. Whether you use
the right piece for the right job, learn how to wield them, and make them
all work together, or get upset because they lay on the ground in front of
you in a pile, is up to you.
--
[** America, the police state **]
Whoooose! What's that noise? Why, it's US citizen's
rights, going down the toilet with Bush flushing.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01..._nsa_internal/ http://www.wired.com/politics/securi...007/08/wiretap http://www.hermes-press.com/police_state.htm http://www.privacyinternational.org/...D=x-347-559597