[Solved] Networking two linux computers

Windcheetah · 2014-03-21 23:17:17

Hi, I'm running linux mint with the XFCE interface, and trying to be able to access its files on my laptop running Ubuntu 13.10.

I have yet to find any file sharing options in XFCE.

Can some one please let me know what I need to do, I'm a hopeless newbe!!!!

Martin

ToZ · 2014-03-22 00:01:04

To connect to, say a samba share, on Ubuntu, you could:

1. Using Thunar, enter the smb connection string in the location bar, something like:

smb://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/share

...replace xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx and share with the actual ip and share name, or:

2. Use the application gigolo to connect to and manage the connections.

3. Create shares directly in your fstab file for automatic mapping (or use autofs).

Of course, this assumes that you have samba file sharing properly set up on the Ubuntu 13.10 box.

MountainDewManiac · 2014-03-22 01:30:21

Depends on what, exactly, your goal is. If you just need to access a few files, this was suggested to me a while back. Dead simple and doesn't require configuration.

http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=90&t=152452#p793941

Regards,
MDM

Windcheetah · 2014-03-26 23:28:48

Thanks MDM, it works fine, but as you say "Depends on what, exactly, your goal is." I'm not quite sure that is what I needed. I'm not sure that I exactly know, either!!!

I'll try the ToZ solution, but what I can't work out is that I thought I was using just a different interface, to the same underlying software, or is there more to it than that???

EG Ubuntu seems to have a share option built in, but XFCE does not.

Can anyone explain???
Thanks loads
Martin

ToZ · 2014-03-27 00:43:27

Windcheetah wrote:

I'll try the ToZ solution, but what I can't work out is that I thought I was using just a different interface, to the same underlying software, or is there more to it than that???

If I understand what you are saying, then yes, different interfaces to the same underlying software.

EG Ubuntu seems to have a share option built in, but XFCE does not.

Now this is confusing. Are you looking at connecting to a share on another computer or hosting a share on a computer with Xfce running?

If connecting to a share on another computer, see my suggestions above.
If hosting a share, look at MountainDewManic's suggestion or you can create a Thunar Custom action to automate the creation of a cifs (samba) share (ala Ubuntu/Nautilus).

Jerry3904 · 2014-03-27 11:25:02

Another possibility is to use NFS. We tested that for Xfce4 4.10 and Debian Stable on the MX-14 we just released, and have a new description here that might be useful to you:

http://www.mepis.org/docs/en/index.php?title=NFS#M12_and_MX-14

The reference to "M12" is to an old beta of SimplyMEPIS and can be ignored.

Sideburns · 2014-03-27 20:41:22

You're confusing a Desktop Environment with a Linux Distribution. Ubuntu is a distribution, which includes various DEs, such as Xfce. However, under the hood they're all Ubuntu. I use Fedora Linux with Xfce. File sharing isn't part of the DE, but is handled by the underlying system software. What you need to know is, "how do I set up file sharing in Mint," and that's something that's best discussed on a forum or mailing list devoted to Mint.

Windcheetah · 2014-04-02 16:47:36

ToZ wrote:

Windcheetah wrote:
I'll try the ToZ solution, but what I can't work out is that I thought I was using just a different interface, to the same underlying software, or is there more to it than that???
If I understand what you are saying, then yes, different interfaces to the same underlying software.
EG Ubuntu seems to have a share option built in, but XFCE does not.
Now this is confusing. Are you looking at connecting to a share on another computer or hosting a share on a computer with Xfce running?
If connecting to a share on another computer, see my suggestions above.
If hosting a share, look at MountainDewManic's suggestion or you can create a Thunar Custom action to automate the creation of a cifs (samba) share (ala Ubuntu/Nautilus).

As a complete newbie, can you explain what you mean by "connecting to a share" and "hosting a share".

I thought I had a clue, but may be not!!!!

Thanks
Martin

Windcheetah · 2014-04-02 16:51:39

ToZ wrote:

To connect to, say a samba share, on Ubuntu, you could:
1. Using Thunar, enter the smb connection string in the location bar, something like:
smb://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/share
...replace xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx and share with the actual ip and share name, or:
2. Use the application gigolo to connect to and manage the connections.
3. Create shares directly in your fstab file for automatic mapping (or use autofs).

Of course, this assumes that you have samba file sharing properly set up on the Ubuntu 13.10 box.

Thanks loads, I was under the impression that a samba share was to network a computer with MS windows, as they could not understand the glory of Linux. Is that so, or, more than likely, have I got the wtong end of the stick??

Thanks
Martin

Windcheetah · 2014-04-02 17:13:32

Jerry3904 wrote:

Another possibility is to use NFS. We tested that for Xfce4 4.10 and Debian Stable on the MX-14 we just released, and have a new description here that might be useful to you:
http://www.mepis.org/docs/en/index.php?title=NFS#M12_and_MX-14
The reference to "M12" is to an old beta of SimplyMEPIS and can be ignored.

Thanks, looks good, but I'm not sure that I really want to change my O/S to a different flavour. A little too much work for me at the moment, also too difficult.

Thanks
Martin

Windcheetah · 2014-04-02 17:21:08

Sideburns wrote:

You're confusing a Desktop Environment with a Linux Distribution. Ubuntu is a distribution, which includes various DEs, such as Xfce. However, under the hood they're all Ubuntu. I use Fedora Linux with Xfce. File sharing isn't part of the DE, but is handled by the underlying system software. What you need to know is, "how do I set up file sharing in Mint," and that's something that's best discussed on a forum or mailing list devoted to Mint.

Thanks loads, I think you may have hit the nail on the head. but the phrase "File sharing isn't part of the DE, but is handled by the underlying system software" leads me to ask Isn't file sharing an integral part of the O/S, but is blocked by the DE. Is that correct??

Thanks
Martin

ToZ · 2014-04-02 17:32:59

Windcheetah wrote:

Thanks loads, I was under the impression that a samba share was to network a computer with MS windows, as they could not understand the glory of Linux. Is that so, or, more than likely, have I got the wtong end of the stick??

No you're right (I used the term "samba" too loosely). Lets see if I can explain this adequately.

Samba is the server component that is installed on a Linux/Unix-based computer to offer up shared services (file/printer) to other computers (Windows, Mac, Linux/Unix). It uses the SMB/CIFS protocol to do this (SMB is the Microsoft standard sharing protocol).

The SMB/CIFS protocol (usually in a package called something like cifs-utils) can also be installed on Linux-based computers to allow connections to shares on other computers (e.g. Linux computers with samba sharing, Windows computers with "Shared Folders" enabled).

So:
To connect to a Windows share from a Linux computer, you need to have cifs-utils installed on a Linux computer.
To connect to a Samba share on a Linux computer from a Windows computer, you need to have samba installed on the Linux computer.
To connect Linux computers together, you have a number of choices included samba/cifs, nfs, etc.

Now back to your original question, accessing files on an Ubuntu system from a Mint system (Linux-to-Linux).
If you setup samba sharing on the Ubuntu system, then you would need to have the cifs-utils package installed in Mint and use any of the methods I described in post #2 to make the connection. Xfce itself does not manage the cifs protocol, this is done at a lower level. Xfce does offer some tools (Thunar's smb:// method or the app "gigolo") to make/manage these connections.

Hope this helps.

Jerry3904 · 2014-04-05 13:53:25

Windcheetah wrote:

Jerry3904 wrote:
Another possibility is to use NFS. We tested that for Xfce4 4.10 and Debian Stable on the MX-14 we just released, and have a new description here that might be useful to you:
http://www.mepis.org/docs/en/index.php?title=NFS#M12_and_MX-14
The reference to "M12" is to an old beta of SimplyMEPIS and can be ignored.
Thanks, looks good, but I'm not sure that I really want to change my O/S to a different flavour. A little too much work for me at the moment, also too difficult.
Thanks
Martin

Wasn't suggesting that you change! NFS is distro-independent, as are those instructions.

Windcheetah · 2014-11-08 20:21:49

Hi everyone, and sorry for the delay in getting back to you.
OK, Gigolo looks like it might be the way forward, I think.......

When I start Gigolo, this is what I get. Gigolo Start Screen

The computer running XFCE desktop is called

MARTIN-DESKTOP

and the laptop running Ubuntu 14.04 LTS is called, I thought,

martin-Latitude-E6410

but does not appear anywhere.

Can anyone confirm what I need to do to set the name of the laptop as a starter???
Thanks loads
Martin

Morbius1 · 2014-11-09 15:20:10

Because martin-Latitude-E6410 is too long. At least it's too long if you use microsoft's rules.

You have two choices:

[1] Do this the Linux / OSX way:

Open a terminal and run:

thunar smb://martin-Latitude-E6410.local

Don't forget the ".local" part. Host names can be 64 characters long in the Linux / OSX universe.

[2] Do it the Microsoft way:

*** Edit /etc/samba/smb.conf as root on martin-Latitude-E6410.
*** Add the following line - right under the workgroup line:

netbios name = martin-E6410

It doesn't have to be that exact name but it does have to be 15 characters or less in length

Then restart samba:

sudo service smbd restart
sudo service nmbd restart

You will have to wait a bit after a samba restart using the Microsoft method since it gets confused for a few minutes.

You can also change your host name but the smb.conf way is easier and the linux way is the easiest.

EDIT: There is actually a 3rd ( or is this 4th ) option and it's something all Linux distro's should do today and that is to add an avahi / samba service announcement file to all your Linux machines. That way all of your Linux / OSX machines will automatically be visible under "Network" in their browsers.

Last edited by Morbius1 (2014-11-09 15:49:35)

Windcheetah · 2014-11-13 23:04:39

Hi, sorry, I may have started off again, toooo soon, as I'm heading off for a while, until the end of January.

So, thanks for your efforts so far, and pick up the challenge again, when I get home.

Thanks loads
Martin

Windcheetah · 2015-04-18 14:06:40

Thanks very much for your help, but I have now moved to LMDE Cinnamon Desktop
Martin

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#1 2014-03-21 23:17:17

[Solved] Networking two linux computers

#2 2014-03-22 00:01:04

Re: [Solved] Networking two linux computers

#3 2014-03-22 01:30:21

Re: [Solved] Networking two linux computers

#4 2014-03-26 23:28:48

Re: [Solved] Networking two linux computers

#5 2014-03-27 00:43:27

Re: [Solved] Networking two linux computers

#6 2014-03-27 11:25:02

Re: [Solved] Networking two linux computers

#7 2014-03-27 20:41:22

Re: [Solved] Networking two linux computers

#8 2014-04-02 16:47:36

Re: [Solved] Networking two linux computers

#9 2014-04-02 16:51:39

Re: [Solved] Networking two linux computers

#10 2014-04-02 17:13:32

Re: [Solved] Networking two linux computers

#11 2014-04-02 17:21:08

Re: [Solved] Networking two linux computers

#12 2014-04-02 17:32:59

Re: [Solved] Networking two linux computers

#13 2014-04-05 13:53:25

Re: [Solved] Networking two linux computers

#14 2014-11-08 20:21:49

Re: [Solved] Networking two linux computers

#15 2014-11-09 15:20:10

Re: [Solved] Networking two linux computers

#16 2014-11-13 23:04:39

Re: [Solved] Networking two linux computers

#17 2015-04-18 14:06:40

Re: [Solved] Networking two linux computers

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