9/28/00
11/24/01 Update
Computer Networking
Third Segment. Creating the shared file system.
In the first segment that I didn't go into any too thoroughly, you put in the network cards and got them all to talk to the firewall. All the right lights come on. That's called the physical layer.
In the second segment, we created users and "passwords" since Microsoft Networking won't even begin to work without them.
In this segment, we create the file system so there are rules and structure for sharing. You will need to have some idea what the names of the computers are going to be. I'm going to assume three computers; laverne, maxene, and patty.
You can certainly share your entire hard drive and computer with anybody on the network. Some people like to do that. I'm not one of them. If anything goes wrong, you could blow away not only a network machine that is misbehaving, but all the other machines on the network as well.
Not a good thing.
So here's the idea. We are going to create a network-available folder right at the top of each machine's hard disk. Anything you put in that folder is available around the network and people can put stuff in as well as take stuff out. Never put original documents in there. Copies only, please.
Turn on Maxene and boot to the desktop.
My Computer => C: => File => New => Folder => click.
Name the new folder "ma_share" (no quotes). [enter]
Right-click the new shared folder.
Left-Click Properties => Sharing => Shared As: => Share Name: MA_SHARE=> Full => Left-Click Full Access Password => [enter]
The control panel should vanish and the shared folder will change to an icon with a hand holding it, "serving" it to the network.
Create a shared directory on all the machines using the first two letters of the actual machine name instead of the "ma". We discovered this helps identify network folders when they start showing up on each other's desktops. If the first two letters don't work, pick one or two of something to identify on which machine the folder lives.
In the next segment, we will actually install the NetBEUI software and cause all the machines to communicate with each other. You might need the Windows 9x CD that came with your operating system license.