Ubuntu 11.10 Home/Small Office style Networking without Samba

Question

I am trying to use samba - I run it and it looks like it will work, but no GUI appears. I need to network my computers.

I have one Windows 7 laptop, two Ubuntu Laptops, a Macbook Pro, and one Ubuntu Desktop.

I am new to Ubuntu, I am trying to force myself into learning it better by getting rid of windows entirely for a while, with the one exception as I need Photoshop.

I have a want to share files between them all and I can't find anything to help me. I also want to get them all connected. All sites I come across refer to Samba but no other means of linking the PC's together for sharing.

Is there a way to share files between them without Samba?

Answer 1

Samba is your best option for sharing files between your computers - it is the one common network file system that they can all understand.

Samba does not come with a gui itself, it is a system service, and has configuration files that need to be edited to define what you want. There is a guide here however it can be a bit daunting for beginners. Having said that, if you are keen to learn linux, then diving in and trying to get this working will give you good insight into how it all works.

If you'd prefer to manage via a gui, then you could install webmin, with is a web based management tool that has a samba management plugin. Webmin is available through the ubuntu package manager.