In way over my head... networking apples and oranges

[smittybomb]

Knoppix is the best distro I've seen.

I'm a newbie, but I'm learning fast. Tried slackware, didn't like my hardware, and package management sucked, so I chose Knoppix. Configured all my hardware on the initial install. It's the best. 'Nuff said.

I have been the computer teacher at a small, private elementary school in Santa Monica. We have a mix-match bunch of computers... IMacs, Pentium I's, Pentium 4's, PowerPC's, and the like. We're running almost every Windows OS possible (except Windows NT, but we do have a 2000 machine) and the macs are pretty much up to date with OS 8.5 or above ... although we do have access to OS X

Ok, my goal this summer is to get them all networked together to allow printer/file sharing, hard drive backups, and any other cool server stuff that I could do. I don't need to host a website, but I would like to be able to access each computer, perform maintenence, have the kids save work from their terminals onto the server hd, and be able to access it from another computer.

I just need a push in the right direction... is it possible to link the computers aforementioned together? Help me out with a HOWTO or some sort of online book. I'm reading the "Linux Newbie Administrator's Guide" and the "Linux Cookbook."

Help me out please

[rickenbacherus]

You have just mentioned one of my favorite subjects-networking!

It sounds as though a router might be what you're after and they are rather easy to build. Here's a great site dedicated to Linux routers. There is no hard drive- only a floppy although it is certainly possible to use a hard drive.

Perhaps my favorite router distro is Coyote

You can boot the entire distro from floppy. Build the router out of any old doorstop machine (yes a 486 will work just fine) and network your machines with it. There are also other distros that would allow you to use the machine as a file/print server. Look here: LEAF

As far as networking your various machines together goes- as long as they all speak the same network protocol there shouldn't be any problems. Both Linux and Windows speak TCP/IP. Macs are also capable of this but they have not always been capable of TCP/IP (I think). I don't know which OS started using TCP/IP.. It is also possible to mix network languages. TCP/IP and Appletalk.

Of course you could also use any of your machines as a file/print server.

There are a multitude of ways to accomplish what you want and I'm sure that other forum members will chime in with their own recommendations. You could even use Knoppix!

Here is a great networking tutorial

Let's not forget Samba for windows file sharing with Linux.

Try this out too Server how-to

It also occurs to me that alot of people are unaware that there is a Goolge site dedicated to Linux- G4L

Good luck in your endeavors.

[rickenbacherus]

Oh and BTW- I moved this post to networking (obviously).

[zzyzx]

You may consider going to one of our sfvlug meetings in Van Nuys, 405, Sherman Way. I use Knoppix as my only OS and Tigren uses it quite a bit. Look into Openmosix for making a cluster. Or enter netcardconfig at commandline to configure networks. There may be a linux cluster script, 4:00 am tired.