home network

[Rich]

anyone got any idea how i set up an home network we have got three laptops in our house

1 my laptop vista home premium connected wireless

2 my sons and daughters laptops are acer aspire one running a version of Linux

we all connect to the internet through a wireless router i want the kids laptops to connect to my laptop for thing like file sharing and printer sharing any one know how to set this up

[Ruathar]

Do you want sharing just one way from the Vista machine to the others or both ways?

Vista is a pain in the rear when it comes to network sharing but if you want it one way then click on your network icon next to your clock and select network and sharing center.

In there you need to turn on Network Discovery, File Sharing, Public folder sharing, Printer Sharing and if you want to stream medie then also Media Sharing. The easy way to do it is to turn off Password Protected Sharing. When you do this make sure you select that your home netowrk is a private network.

Then in Windows Explorer find the folder you wat to share and right click on i and select Share...

Set up a folder name for the share and click on the Share button and you should be all set up. The path for the folder will be \\computer name\shared folder name

If the other machines cannot see the folder by mapping to the above folder (easy way to check is press Windows Key+R and type in the above address) then you may find they are in different workgroups. On Vista this can be found in Control Pael > System. The Workgroup name will be listed there, make sure all other machines are set to the same workgroup else Windows will refuse to let them see it.

Any other problems drop a reply here and Iwill see what I can do but this is the basics. Be warned this is not the most secure method but is about the only 100% guaranteed method in Vista.

[Alchamist]

The easiest way, sadly, is not the cheapest way.

If you want file and print sharing, I would recommend getting a NAS storage device with print server included, like this (you will need to get a hard drive as well). This will give you several advantages (not having to have a PC on all the time to print/access files, better virus protection, backup storage etc)

If you want to go the hard way, be prepared for a battle. Getting XP and Linux to play nice is easy enough, but Microshaft really messed things up with Vista. All you need do is google it and you will find hundreds of horror stories. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it's not for the feint hearted.

[Rich]

chers jay i think i will give it a miss