networking
I have 3 machines, all on Ubuntu 10.10,
2 desktops wired to a router, and one Laptop via wifi.
I am using Ubuntu for 3 years now, but not yet feeling comfortable using the terminal.
How do I set up a basic home network (graphically?) so I can access files from all machines, without been depended on the Internet (Like Ubuntu One)
*(Internet connection in my area is not stable)
I had enough copy-paste files using a jump-drive.
If you're using NetworkManager, it should just work. That said, you will need to set specific settings for your wired connection.
Select your wired connection in the Connection Editor window for NetworkManager (right click on the applet icon, then select Edit Connections). Click Edit, then switch to the IPv4 Settings tab and click the Routes button at the bottom.
You can then force the wired connection to not claim the default gateway (since NM would usually prefer wired over wireless), by checking the "Use this connection only for the resources on its network" checkbox.
First you will need to assign IP addresses to your eth interface, then you'll need to setup shared folders. Both can be done quite easily:
Assign IP addresses
I will show you how to add a seperate setup only for this connection, so you can switch back to the default behaviour when connecting to the Internet over LAN (if you don't want this, instead of step 2.-6. click edit.. on your eth0/1/... wherever your cable is plugged in.
To verify your settings, rightclick nm -> Connection Information - and verify your IP address.
Now it should be possible to ping the other computer. Open a terminal, type
ping 192.168.1.2 (or 192.168.1.1; the ip address of the other computer)
If your output looks like this:
ping 192.168.1.2
PING 192.168.1.2 (192.168.1.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.1.2: icmp_seq=1 ttl=255 time=0.431 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.2: icmp_seq=2 ttl=255 time=0.407 ms
Your connection works!
If it looks like this:
ping 192.168.1.2 PING 192.168.1.2 (192.168.1.2) 56(84) bytes of data.
From 192.168.1.1 icmp_seq=1 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.1.1 icmp_seq=2 Destination Host Unreachable
something is wrong, sharing won't be posible
Enable shared Folder
Now, to transfer files between computers, at least one computer has to share a folder. We will do this with nautilus:
Now you should see the share (you might have to give a username/password depending on your decision on step 5).
Please note that creation shares on a NTFS-Partition might not work out of the box!
Best Answer
I would create a Shared folder on one of the desktops (the one with the most free hard drive space). Then you can access that Shared folder from other computers. To Share a folder right click on the folder and choose Sharing or if you don't see that choose properties and then choose sharing. If you don't have Samba installed, you should be asked to install Samba. You can allow access to specific users or you can make the folder available to anyone on the network (probably easiest on a small home network).
Then from the other computers navigate to the Network (on the list of Places) and find the computer with the Shared folder. Open the folder and then make a bookmark. Anything you place in that folder from one computer will be accessible from all the other computers.
Sorry I can't give you exact step by steps as I don't have a 10.10 machine in front of me.