Wanted, one complete, concise Samba setup HOWTO

[Robert Myers]

On Tue, Oct 16, 2012 at 11:55 AM, Doug <dmcgarrett at optonline.net> wrote:
>
> I second that. I have been searching for a simple instruction on
> how to set up a peer-to-peer network that includes Windows
> (Win 7 and XP) and Linux, and does so in plain English.  My
> Win 7 knows there is a printer attached to my Linux machine,
>  but can't send to it, and my Linux machine knows there is a
> doug-PC, but can't read any files on that Windows machine.
>

I've been shot at here for criticizing the Samba documentation.  The
fault does not lie entirely on the Linux side.  Microsoft is not eager
to have its machines interoperate with Samba, and it keeps changing
the gotchas.  This situation actually works to the advantage of the
Linux companies that sell contracts for commercial support (no names,
of course), as I am certain that enterprise clients won't accept RTFM
as an answer to the fact that they can't share files between Windows
and Linux machines.  At one time, a book about 7 cm thick would have
answered any question you might have.  I can't recommend the book now
as Microsoft has changed so many things since that book appeared.
There are similarly thick books documenting NetBIOS, but, even if you
have the money and the patience for that, Microsoft has invented its
own rules.

Robert.