Home Network Set-up: Which one?

[filosofic]

I have kubuntu 8.04 running on my AMD64 desktop with a linksys wireless B router upstairs; a Dell Vista laptop from work that I bring home regularly; and a OLPC (Sugar-linux/Debian) laptop that my daughter uses. I would like to be able to set up a wireless network between all three such that all three would be able to share each other's resources (ideally -- though I would be happy with just having the two laptops being able to access files on the AMD Desktop).

I have played a bit with SAMBA and the instructions found here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=202605 but before I make changes to my workplace laptop, I thought it prudent to get some feedback.

I have downloaded OpenVPN on the AMD/Linux and the Dell/Vista machines.

The AMD/Linux desktop is the main computer hooked into the internet through a DSL line that goes through the linksys wireless router. It does not have a wireless card.

The Dell/Vista hooks up to the wireless broadcast effortlessly as does the OLPC. The linksys setup is all default except that I set up a WEP password to secure it.

I have limited Linux experience but am somewhat comfortable using bash. But before I invest more time and effort into learning how to set up the network, I hope to get some feedback as to the best way of setting it up.

So, should I work with Samba, VPN or is there a third option I haven't considered. Your comments highly appreciated. Thanks all.

[lykwydchykyn]

Re: Home Network Set-up: Which one?

I don't think VPN is an option here; I haven't worked much with VPN and it's been a long time since I took that network+ exam, but AFAIK it's not a file-sharing protocol.

My rule of thumb is that whenever Windows gets involved, Samba is the way to go. There are better ways to share files between Linux machines (like ssh/sftp/sshfs), but they are miserable to get working with Windows.

I personally prefer to configure samba with Webmin, but frankly the config file isn't very complicated. Just don't use the KDE config tool because it's been broken for a long time and will probably never get fixed in 3.x.