This FAQ is intended for advanced Linux users. If you do not completely understand it, I am available for consultation.
First of all, I assume you have followed the instructions at
FAQ
for installing the printer on Linux. The act of doing this
insures that the CUPS (Common UNIX Printing System) is installed.
This is used when you print a file from your Linux host for formatting.
There is one additional piece of software you need to print from
Microsoft Windows machines called Samba. This allows the
Microsoft Windows machines to browse to your printer on the Linux
box and make a connection. Since Samba can serve up to
100 clients at a time it is called a "Samba Server". Samba
should be installed by default, if it
is not go to YAST and install it. Also while in YAST click
on Network Services | Samba | Enable Samba Server. Note the
default name for your Microsoft Windows Workgroup TUX-NET.
If that is not the name of your Workgroup, edit it to be the one
you want. Now edit using vi or your favorite editor, the file
"/etc/samba/smb.conf" . Note, always make a backup copy
of any file you edit first (i.e. cp smb.conf smb_orig.conf ). The
minimum entries you need are something like:
[global]
load printers = yes
printing = cups
printcap name = cups
[printers]
comment = All Printers
path = /var/spool/samba
browseable = yes
public = yes
guest ok = yes
writable = no
printable = yes
printer admin = root, @ntadmins
Note: your paths may be slightly different and you may choose to say
browseable = no and guest ok = no for added security.
If you do not want to type the file in, here it is:
smb_simple
There is one last step. Microsoft machines like to use their own print
drivers to do the formatting. So they do not want CUPS doing formatting.
In order to allow this we have to enable raw printing . That is
the file will be sent and no further processing will happen on it other
than directing the octet-stream (data) to the Linux printer. We
must edit two files to do this:
/etc/cups/mime.types to uncomment (remove # sign)
the line near the end of the file that has
#application/octet-stream
to read
application/octet-stream
Likewise edit /etc/cups/mime.convs to uncomment the
line that begins with
#application/octet-stream ....
This is incredibly easy. Rember MAC OS X is basically a "UNIX/LINUX" clone so lp the UNIX line printer requester is built in. This is also known as IPP or TCP printing. So now you have the client side all you need is the server side. Go to YAST and click on Network Services | Network Services |inetd | Enable printer stream tcp service. Note, you must highlight it and click on it to toggle it on. This service is also known as lpd or Line Printer Daemon. Now go back to your MAC and add an IPP printer. Pick the IP address of your Linux host by name or spelled out by IP address. Say ok and you are done.
On both the MAC OS X and Microsoft Windows machines you can use
Samba Server. Follow the instructions as you did for
enabling printing via Samba and make sure you additionally check
file sharing . You may want to edit the file sharing to choose
who can log in and which directories they can see. Note,
the default is for everybody to see everything!
A more secure alternative is NFS Server. You go to YAST |
Network Services | NFS Server to enable this. Be extra careful
about your directories you export to be seen on your network.
Here I would also not go with the defaults.
You will need an NFS client for Microsoft Windows. There are
ones out there made by WRQ INC. and Hummingbird INC. The MAC OS X
has one built in. Follow these instructions to enable it using
the
Netinfo
utility.
Believe it or not, yes it acutally is . You would actually
need 3 Linux boxes. One for Samba file and print sharing ,
one as a primary domain controller and one as a backup
domain controller. Here is a sample Samba Primary Domain Controller
file which I tested:
Samba PDC
It assumes the following users: user1, user2, and victor who store
their profile in a directory called /home/user1 home/user2 home/victor.
Note, you will have to customize this some for your installation!
However it should get you 98 percent of the way. Lastly, here is a sample
logon.bat file
which also needs to be customized to go with it. Just to prove that
everything works you can make it even simpler. Let this be the one
line in your logon.bat file:
net use H:\\192.168.0.9\%username%
Note, I hardcoded the address here. Instead you can use an entry from
the host name table. On your MAC or Microsoft Windows machine you would
then want a user called user1. Lastly you want to synchronize your
Windows password for Samba to your UNIX user password. Luckily there is a
nice utility built into Mandriva to do this. If you have not already install
webmin . That is type urpmi webmin and feed it the CD.
Now go into Konqueror or whatever web browser you have and type:
https://localhost:10000
This will run the webmin program. You can now click on
Servers after logging in using root and your root password.
Now click on Samba Windows File Sharing . Click on Convert
Unix users to Samba users . Now you will have Samba accounts for all
the users in Windows and the password will be synchronized. To check that
everything is working, go to a Terminal Konsole prompt. Log in
as root by typing su then your password (linux01). Here type:
smbstatus
You should see something like:
smb_status.txt
If you would rather synchonize the Samba and normal users by hand ,
this can be done very simply. Type in the following command:
smbpasswd -a victor
This adds the user victor, who you have already created an
account for, to the Samba Database.
Another useful tool for configuring Samba is swat if webmin
is not available. Here is how to install it with an Ubuntu/Debian
type distribution. Type the following commands:
apt-get install samba
apt-get install apache2
apt-get install xinetd
apt-get install swat
Edit the file /etc/inetd.conf and uncomment the # sign so the
swat service will run. It should look something like
this
.
You now need to create the swat service file. i.e.
vi /etc/xinetd.d/swat
Here is a
sample
. Next type:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure xinetd
to restart Samba with the new configuration. To test that swat
is there type netstat -lt and you should see the swat
service. Lastly type this at your favorite browser:
http://localhost:901
and you are ready to go!
If you just want simple samba file sharing, you can do it
with the built in GUI interface in Kubuntu by clicking on
the main menu | system settings | sharing (under internet and
networking section) .
Here you can then click on file sharing and add in your shares. I added in my entire mounted FAT32 Windows XP Partition, which was
on /mnt/data . I called the share WINPART. Here is my
sample
smb.conf file showing this. Note, this is identical to the way
you do it on the MAC OS X.
In principal, this is extremely simple. It requires just two pieces
which can live on the same host: SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer
Protocol) Server for outgoing mail and a Pop3 Server
for incoming mail. To enable this go to YAST | Network Services |
inetd | and enable both of these Servers . You may have to install
the software if it is not there. You will be prompted for the
appropiate CD's. Don't forget to toggle the Servers on. Note, it
defaults to just being on your localhost, that is your Linux box.
To test it go into KMail | Settings | Configure Mail and use
the chart below:
| Username | Password | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| user1@localhost | linuxisfun | This is your normal full email login. |
| POP Mail Server | SMTP Mail Server | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| linux.site | localhost | incoming and outgoing mail servers |
Note, this is identical to what was explained earlier in the FAQ. Notice how some "dummy" names and IP addresses were created automatically for you to be your SMTP and Pop3 Servers. Localhost by the way is the loopback 127.0.0.1 and linux.site maps to 127.0.0.2 . A treatise could be written on mail, but now you know enough to set it up.
You can enable these on your Linux box similarly by going to YAST | Network Services for all of the servers except the FTP Server which is located at YAST | Network Services | inetd. Usually, you will get the DNS and DHCP Server automatically through your DSL/Cablenet provider. So they are not necessary. The HTTP Server and FTP Server are available for $10/month on a commercial Linux Box, therfore I recommend using that. I mentioned this in my Services for Microsoft Folks page.