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I want to take an old Toshiba satellite laptop and load Ubuntu on it. I want to put it to use in the network as a print / file server. The other computers in the network are all Windows XP. So, will ubuntu do the job? Will I need Samba for the file server and CUPS for the print server? Can Samba manage both file and print server duties? Any suggestions on how to make a print/file server would be most welcome. Thanks.
Yes, samba provides both file and print sharing for windows PCs. Just about any distribution will work and you can find lots and lots of info on the web on how to set up samba.
Thanks for taking the time to help me out. Since posting the question, I did more research and went ahead with the Ubuntu server installation. Now I need to find out how to add a GUI to the mix. I am just learning Linux...command line stuff might be a purist method of getting things done but until I get the hang of things a bit better, I will go with a GUI to ease the learning curve.
Thanks again for helping me.
To install Gnome
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop
or KDE
sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop.
swat is a web based configuration tool that you can use to setup samba configuration file (smb.conf)
... or take look at webmin.
Webmin gives you a GUI without the need of a pretty heavy graphical environment.
For Samba I've also heard good things about SWAT (Samba Web Administration Tool).