UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hiya, guys!

I am quite new to the Unix world (and enjoying it). I currently have a unix shell account with cyberspace.org, but I want to have my own little unix system at home. Especially for programming, and maybe setting up acouple of accounts on my computer, so my friends can access from their terminals.

Could anyone recommend the best software to buy?

Much appreciated, Cheers,

FRY.

No need to buy. Download SuSe10.

I wanted to do a test installation of a text-based Linux(very similar to Unix) server on my home network, which consists of a Linksys Cable Gateway/Switch-Router and two client PCs running Windows XP.

Using "free" install disks which I had acquired at a very attractive price from:
http://www.easylinuxcds.com, I completely cleared the HDD on a spare machine and installed Mandriva-Linux LE 2005 without any apps or a GUI. Of course, I installed SAMBA and checked the SAMBA-Server option under servers.

Using this installation, I was able to get the "new" machine on my home network with remarkably little trouble. I did have to re-acclimate myself to using a command line interface, something which I haven't done much since leaving DOS for Windows. The SAMBA configuration file was in the directory C:/etc/samba and it is dubbed "smb.conf". Make a backup copy of it, carefully review the comments embedded in the file and you should be able to get off to a good start by using any familiar text editor to revise smb.conf.

Good luck.