Now this looks like a really great way to get your feet wet in office Linux. Reading about it, can’t get much safer than that! This article from Linux Journal really takes a close look at what it takes and how to make the change over to a Linux powered network.

In our last column, we said were going to explain how to set up a small office network using Samba 3, Linux and Windows XP. We promised to emphasize a workgroup environment rather than a large domain. In this article, we demonstrate how Linux fits into a desktop infrastructure regardless of the presence of other operating systems.

Also, before we assemble our small office, we want to expand our requirements to allow Windows 98 computers into our workgroup, as that operating system continues to be a large and significant percentage of personal desktop computers in use worldwide. Fortunately, we have a solution for allowing them to work with the latest desktop operating systems from Redmond.

Small office, home office (SOHO) networks command a large majority of the PC market and have many features in common. For example, small networks leave user security to each machine rather than providing server authentication.

The members of small offices, also called workgroups, use peer-to-peer networking. Individual users share their printers and files with others without having to provide a user name and password. If one machine performs functions such as financial accounting and record keeping, it can be segregated from other users by implementing stronger machine level security policies.

If you have a small office network and use Linux while others in your family or office team use Mac or Windows, you soon discover that your system has resources to fit into the overall network smoothly; your machine even provides services the others lack. Even a simple Linux desktop offers more applications for networking than do top-of-the-line Microsoft and Apple operating systems.