[ale] samba conf

[Irv Mullins]

----- Original Message -----
 From: Luis Luna <Luis at btr-architects.com>
To: <ale at ale.org>
Sent: Monday, November 22, 1999 5:23 PM
Subject: RE: [ale] samba conf
...

> I read and re-read the linux manual and man pages, I can't come up
> with how to format a drive and have a folder on it that is shared. MKFS is
> somewhat cryptic, at least to me. How do I list what is on a drive other
> than /? I mean do I type cd /dev/hdc1/foldername?

Egad!
1. I have done exactly what you are wanting dozens of times, and I'm not
even sure what MKFS means. All the distributions I have tried will do this
automatically, most use DiskDruid to do the job, I believe.

2. Years of Windows use can cause a mental block: please forget about
C:, D: and A: drives. Linux has exactly one disk, called /
beneath that / are various directories, just like in DOS or Windows. Unlike
the DOS arrangement, those directories can include not just files, but,
among other things: your floppy drives, hard drives, CD-ROM, SCSI drives,
ZIP drives and even disk drives on other computers down the hall or halfway
around the world, if you choose to mount them.

Suppose, for example, I want my Windows drive to be visible to Linux.
All I need to do is make a directory somewhere on the Linux drive,
mkdir /win
and mount the Windows drive there:
mount -tvfat /dev/hda1 /win
(translated: mount -type vfat /dev/hda1 (hard drive 1) as /win)

After that, it is no longer necessary to know anything about the device
where
the Windows files are stored, or to make reference to any kind of hardware:
to see the files there, I just type 'cd /win' and then 'ls'  (or 'dir')
To see stuff on the Zip drive, 'cd /zip' and type 'ls' -- etc.

Of course, I can name the directories anything I want. Maybe my Zip drive
is used for backups, so I create a directory /home/irv/accounting_backups
and mount the zip drive there. Now when I do a 'ls
/home/irv/accounting_backups',
I get a listing of the files from the Zip disk.

> Is there a "linux for dummies" book?

Yes, as a matter of fact there is. However, I much prefer the manual that
comes with SuSE Linux - it goes into enough detail to actually be useful.
There's a short section on setting up Samba there, too.

Regards,
Irv Mullins