Wifi networks - Windows and Linux

is it possible?

[HelenDev]

Just wondering if it is possible to have a wifi network with a mixture of windows and linux machines?

Anyone done this?

[encyclo]

Sure, no problem. The wireless router doesn't mind what OS the connecting machine is running. You can use Samba to let the Linux machines access documents on the Windows ones.

[Dabrowski]

Yeah, what he said.

[edited by: Dabrowski at 11:20 pm (utc) on Nov. 2, 2007]

[vincevincevince]

What kind of networking do you want? Are you talking about sharing internet access, web servers, or file sharing? I've had success with all three... but some WiFi cards can be a pain to configure in linux (find a tutorial for your distro, and follow it exactly, precisely, step for step, and you should be fine).

upnp file sharing works well (ushare on linux)... I host my local MP3 collection via ushare, and pick it up from both the windows laptop and the linux-based WiFi radio no problem.

[HelenDev]

Thanks for the replies guys :)

What kind of networking do you want?

Mainly just to share an internet connection, and file sharing would also be useful.

At the moment I've got two computers at home (and that's plenty for my small flat!) and they are currently connected via a wireless router for shared internet access and file sharing. I currently use Network Magic to do all the clever stuff - I didn't have much success at doing it myself!

My second computer is not great as a windows machine (too old, not much RAM) and I've been long thinking of using it as a linux machine, just as a learning tool for me really. I keep coming up with good reasons not to convert, and this (the networking issue) is the final one! If I can resolve this, then I might go for it!

The stoopid machine in question did not come with a windows disk however, and the backup facility failed, so if I do go for Linux, there's no turning back!

Slight side-question: Do you think I would have problems running linux on a slightly rubbish old laptop?

[encyclo]

Linux runs well on older machines, dependent on the hardware and whether there is support for it. How old is "old", and what do you want to do with it?

[HelenDev]

Thanks encyclo.

Well, I've never used Linux, and it's long been on my list of 'things to learn about'. So I probably don't want to do anything particularly challenging. Yet.

I bought my laptop in 2003 I think, and it was the cheapest one I could find at the time (I was skint)! It's only got about 256k RAM and 6gb hard drive. It has been struggling a bit of late (it's on XP), although that has been helped a little by getting it serviced and uninstalling a load of stuff.

[zulu_dude]

You may want to try downloading Ubuntu linux to start off with... once you've burned it to a CD, you can boot directly into Ubuntu straight off the CD (without installing it). That will give you a good chance to take a poke around and see whether you like it. If you do like it, then you can install it to the laptop. It should work fine with 256MB RAM and a 6GB HDD.

I've never used Linux before and looked at Ubuntu for the first time last week- was very impressed! I think next time one of my PCs needs an OS reinstall, it's going to be Ubuntu, not XP.

[HelenDev]

you can boot directly into Ubuntu straight off the CD (without installing it)

Excellent, I'll try that :)