Select Print ASCII test page and make sure everything is printed normally. You should not see Stair-stepping-text that advances to the next line but not to the beginning of the line.

Next, test Postscript printing. Here you will see your first minor miracle—even if your printer is non-postscript, it will print graphics using Postscript! This is because the print-job is routed through the supplied utility, GhostScript, which converts the Postscript code into something your printer can understand.

If both tests are cleared, your printer is properly installed and you can proceed.

Configuring for Windows networking

Windows-style networking is probably the most common one today (Netware enthusiasts, don’t gnash your teeth—read Netware and Linux) and that’s what we are going to set up now.

There are two kinds of Windows networking—Domain-based (where you have to log into the server to even see its resources) and Share-based (where you need to know the password for resources you wish to access). The former is the type of networking used by Windows NT, while the latter, also called Workgroup computing, is typically found in Windows for Workgroups 3.11. Each has its merits, and we do not want to get too deep into that now. We will assume that you want to set up Linux to offer Domain-based networking, complete with a security login.

The technical name for Windows-style networking is SMB (Server Message Block) protocol-based networking or LanManager-style networking. Though Microsoft refers to it only as Windows Networking, it is actually used by many operating systems and architectures, including OS/2, Digital PathWorks, and so on. There is nothing really Microsoft or Windows specific in the protocol.

SMB-style networking is implemented under Linux using Andrew Tridgell’s original implementation of the SMB protocol for Unix, called SAMBA. It is an extremely complex piece of work, but fortunately very easy to configure—just about every configuration item is stored within a single configuration file that is plain text, with plenty of comments included to help you along.

This text file is called smb.conf and is found in the /etc directory (like just about every configuration file in Red Hat Linux-based systems). A few changes in that file are required to get your server up and running, so let’s quickly make them.

Note: The SAMBA code originally shipped with Red Hat Linux 5.0 is not optimal, so we upgrade it during the installation process using the upgrades kit we have supplied along with our CD-ROM. If you have not yet applied those upgrades, you should do so now. The SAMBA code originally shipped with Red Hat Linux 5.0 is not optimal, so we upgrade it during the installation process using the upgrades kit we have supplied along with our CD-ROM. If you have not yet applied those upgrades, you should do so now.

Here we also introduce our favorite little text editor, JOE (Joe’s Own Editor), and anyone who has ever used WordStar or Borland’s original programmer editor is going to feel right at home using it. (Why did we mention this here? Because, you wouldn’t believe how many people have shied away from Unix/Linux in the past saying "I don’t won’t to learn VI or EMACS….".)