Is there any Linux Distro that can browse for windows 7 shares

T

tomNPD

Guest
I have many customer that want to do something with their old XP system, But the are not Geeks.

Is there any Distro that can install from DVD and do the follow with out getting to a terminal prompt?

1. See/install wireless network adapter, connect to a wireless network.

2. Browse the network, see XP and windows 7 systems, then connect/map to Shared folders for XP and 7.

3. Browse the network and install a XP, windows 7, Network printer, if a Linux drivers is available.

For My customer if they have to get the terminal prompt, that it is a failure, and (in their words) not a real operating system if it can't do these 3 items “out of the box”. They get off the shelf windows systems and expect the same from anything that I suggest, that it just works for basic stuff like above.

I have tried on a Test Laptop, Desktop, Vitrualbox the following Distro's with no luck :
Zorion-os 8, Mint 16, Ubuntu 12, Peppberment, Kubunt, PCLinuxOS, Fedora, Lubuntu 13, LuninuXOS 13.

Any suggestions would be great.
 


"I wouldn't waste my time with such people. It's either learn or pay. "

That attitude is why Linux is only seen as a Geeks Toy and not a real OS.

And MS has won, so far.

People Want the Linux PC to work, not Learn about the Guts of Linux.

Even if you sell the system with Linux on it, It still has to work without fail.

And Linux still doesn't, when it is in an office or home with windows XP and 7 systems.

Understand, I Want to sell them Linux Referb's, but I have to have a Distro that works.

I am a Geek and still have massive trouble getting Any Distro to browse to
find a window 7 shared folder or printer.
 
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There is nothing I can do about such people, who want something for nothing. I have learned to accept it.

Perhaps it is an opportunity for you, OP, to develop such a distro. Besides, what you think about me is none of my business.

I have other concerns but wish you well.
 
"There is nothing I can do about such people, who want something for nothing. I have learned to accept it.

Perhaps it is an opportunity for you, OP, to develop such a distro. Besides, what you think about me is none of my business. "

These people don't want something for nothing, They want to pay for a product that works.

I have been testing Disto's for years, to find one I could use. This started when I first saw Corel Linux, that worked. But none of the ones I have tested in the last 5 years of looking have worked well enough for Sell on Referb's.

I AM LOOKING for Suggestions, Help, not BS. or a MS guy.
 
Linux can only communicate with Microsoft Windows through Samba. Go back to Linux Mint 16 and check out the Samba Mounter. http://linuxmint.com/rel_petra_kde_whatsnew.php

Also look at LXLE Linux. http://lxle.net/. When you go to set up a printer one of the options is to look for a Windows networked printer through Samba.

Both Linux Mint and LXLE are reasonable in identifying and installing wifi, although not perfect.
 
You don't really have to open the terminal if you want to install rather few necessary packages that make windows networks visible on most GNU/Linux file managers (if they're not yet installed). All you have to do is install them from graphical software/package managers present out of the box in your average distribution. You may want to configure smb.conf manually, since it is simple, but you can also use a graphical interface to do so.
 
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Not the answers wanted?
Tell me something, OP -- have you ever made a nickel installing GNU/distributions or FOSS or Open Source softwares for customers and, if so, was the favor (I mean $) returned to respective communities or developers? I contribute both time and/or what is the god of many to such communities. Do you?
No BS now.
 
I wanted to thank arochester and Yesyesloud for your help.

I revisited Mint but used the Mate version,
and found the right packages to install,
so that only one edit of the smb.conf file was all
that was needed to fix the problems.

This was a project to do a Demo for a customer,
to install Linux at the customers site,
on one of their XP systems to show Linux as an
alternative to scrapping all of their XP system.

The customer, who I have had for 19 years,
he is not a geek, or foolish, he will watch the process,
and if he saw a lot of command prompt typing,
that would blow the deal for sure.

Like most of my office customers,
they have a few Windows 7 systems, that run key printers or
shared folders, and a NAS and a lot of Windows XP systems.
That is why I need something I could repeat over and over and work.

Over 20 years ago I was the go to UNIX guy
for an Account Software company, in the area.

Things have change a lot other the years.

20 ISO downloads, to get one to work without problems, is bad,
but at least I have one that I can Demo.
 
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Small tip, if Commands appear on a web page you mostly do not need to type them...

Tip: You do not need to type commands into the Terminal. Highlight the command written on the web page. Move your cursor anywhere in the Terminal and press your mouse wheel or mouse middle button. Automatic Copy and paste! No spelling mistakes! No Typos! No other errors!
 
"I wouldn't waste my time with such people. It's either learn or pay. "

That attitude is why Linux is only seen as a Geeks Toy and not a real OS.

And MS has won, so far.

People Want the Linux PC to work, not Learn about the Guts of Linux.

I hate the attitude of "Linux doesn't play well with Windows, so it must be Linux' fault"

I could rant about the reasons why Windows having historically "won" has nothing to do with their actual OS, and the fact you think they "won" means you know nothing about Linux and how it is used. You'd have a similar headache trying to configure a Windows OS to play well in a fully-built Linux network/environment.

Personally I don't want your customers to be anywhere near a Linux system if they can't be bothered to do the most basic amounts of configuration. You're talking about trying to put Linux on system fully configured in a Windows environment and you want there to be no issues? This is the mindset that has kept Windows "winning" the home computer war. People that don't know or care to know how their computer is actually functioning and that mindset won't work on any configurable system.

The "ease of use" of many Linux distros has evolved by leaps and bounds and most "non-Geeks" can get a user friendly distro like Ubuntu up and running for basic for home use fairly quickly, but your clients are trying to configure network printer/shared folder accessibility (all of which sounds like is running on Windows servers) not to mention other network-related issues like security, cross-platform application support, etc. There will have to be some investment.

Thats like saying "I want to buy a Mac, but I have all this Windows software. I want to run this software on this Mac, but I also don't want to have to do any work to try and get this working."

You're client needs to realize you're installing an OS on a system it wasn't designed for (Windows has the luxury of having hardware designed to work for their OS, because the majority of PCs ship with Windows) and essentially getting a full OS for free. There is ultimately a trade-off for that because you aren't paying for a fully pre-configured system. Installing an OS isn't like installing just another software application

I understand its the demands of your client and its more or less out of your hands, but I really think they'd be better off upgrading to Win 7. Even if it isn't during the initial configuration, there is a good chance something will go wrong at some point and they will actually have to know something about the system they're running.

Also, why don't you just open up the .conf files in a text editor like gedit if they're really that scared of the command-line. Its no different than .ini files or registry entries in Windows.
 
Any suggestions would be great.
If those are your customers' requirements then your customers require windows and you're failing as a supplier/provider. Windows XP is about 13 years old, there have been three releases since then, you failed to upgrade your customers to newer releases and that's your fault - now it's the 11th hour... GNU/Linux doesn't have to fill in as a cheap XP replacement to get you out of the ..
That attitude is why Linux is only seen as a Geeks Toy and not a real OS.
You should try all caps and bold next time... that will make your statement all the truer...

People Want the Linux PC to work, not Learn about the Guts of Linux.
You haven't the first clue what "people want"...

Even if you sell the system with Linux on it, It still has to work without fail.
Just like windows eh? Because that works 100% of the time without fail...

And Linux still doesn't, when it is in an office or home with windows XP and 7 systems.
So long as it works on people's desktops and severs and does what people want it to do, interop with windows is a secondary concern - if that. i.e. it's important to you, but not important at all to many. In fact GNU/Linux has done a lot to support windows protocols and file systems, whereas MS have done nothing...

Understand, I Want to sell them Linux Referb's, but I have to have a Distro that works.
Lots of distros work, your expectations and requirements are simply wrong. You are trying to sell drop in windows replacements to average joe - that's where your entire concept and business model falls down.

I am a Geek and still have massive trouble getting Any Distro to browse to
find a window 7 shared folder or printer.
You're not a geek or you wouldn't have started this thread - you clearly know next to nothing about *nix systems.

These people don't want something for nothing, They want to pay for a product that works.
You cannot sell GNU/Linux, you can only sell discs and support - look it up.

I AM LOOKING for Suggestions, Help, not BS. or a MS guy.
You're trolling. Take this attitude to a few other forums and see how far it gets you.
I revisited Mint but used the Mate version,
and found the right packages to install,
so that only one edit of the smb.conf file was all
that was needed to fix the problems.
Are you now saying that it was simple and worked?

Over 20 years ago I was the go to UNIX guy
for an Account Software company, in the area.

Things have change a lot other the years.
Yes you seem to have forgotten everything you've learnt...

Or did UNIX interop seamlessly with windows back in those days? And I suppose everything was GUI driven as well... oh how things have regressed...

This is an independent OS for people who couldn't give a flying about windows and it's users. If it doesn't do what want it to do and you can't be bothered to invest the time and effort to learn or change your way of working - then it's not for you or your customers...

My advice: give up.

Edited by @ryanvade
 
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I wanted to thank arochester and Yesyesloud for your help.

I revisited Mint but used the Mate version,
and found the right packages to install,
so that only one edit of the smb.conf file was all
that was needed to fix the problems.

This was a project to do a Demo for a customer,
to install Linux at the customers site,
on one of their XP systems to show Linux as an
alternative to scrapping all of their XP system.

The customer, who I have had for 19 years,
he is not a geek, or foolish, he will watch the process,
and if he saw a lot of command prompt typing,
that would blow the deal for sure.

Like most of my office customers,
they have a few Windows 7 systems, that run key printers or
shared folders, and a NAS and a lot of Windows XP systems.
That is why I need something I could repeat over and over and work.

Over 20 years ago I was the go to UNIX guy
for an Account Software company, in the area.

Things have change a lot other the years.

20 ISO downloads, to get one to work without problems, is bad,
but at least I have one that I can Demo.
You're welcome. Those packages actually work on any distribution.

I don't know why you had to try so many Linux operating systems. Good that you've got more acquainted with one.

Just stick with Linux Mint or another ubuntu-based if you want an OS for dummies.

"I wouldn't waste my time with such people. It's either learn or pay. "

That attitude is why Linux is only seen as a Geeks Toy and not a real OS.

And MS has won, so far.

People Want the Linux PC to work, not Learn about the Guts of Linux.
MS has not won at all, it's a company craving big money, while Linux runs the internet, my friend. MS is just p off because they can't make an OS as profitable.

Besides, most supercomputers run Linux.

If you think an OS aiming technology "uneducated" users is a model that will survive the next generations, I am sorry to say that it's not the best assumption.

Edited by @ryanvade
 
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