small network

[Cyber Source]

Ok, first question I would have is where are these pc's and what will 
you be doing with/on them?

Advent Systems wrote:

> Hello All & Happy Holidays,
>    I know this can get long and involved and I by no means want you 
> guys to do my homework for me, just let me know if I'm on the right 
> track.   I have (4) pc's and (1) laptop.  After spending 1-2 hrs. on 
> the Internet researching I ran my cable, plugged them in, loaded my 
> firewall software,  and clicking my mouse about 12 times at each box 
> and my network was up and running, including wireless access for my 
> laptop!   In trying to get the boxes networked with Linux I',I've 
> spent easily 100 hours "surfing" (I use different distros and everyone 
> seems to approach it and place network files and commands differently) 
> I've purchased (3) books ( $100+)  and after months I can now ping 
> each machine!  Questions: 1.) Do I need or "should" I run the same 
> distro on each box, I know it sound stupid but hey!  2.) What do I 
> "need" to share my files amongst my boxes w/o unduly exposing them to 
> the Internet, ie. NSF, NIS, Samba,Firewall, etc. 3.) Do I need to 
> setup one box as a dedicated server and the balance of the boxes as 
> clients?
> Again I don't need a step by step here.  I'm willing to put in the 
> time It's just that its getting ridiculous and want to make sure I'm 
> going in the right direction.  To Illustrate how bad it is I have NO 
> boxes running Linux at  all right now  ( my boxes are all duel boot 
> w/win2k) because  of my file sharing requirements.
>
> Thanks,
> Bob Randal