Sharing an Acer document with my Windows XP

If I am writing something on my Aspire One can I share it with my other computer through my wireless router ?

 

Sure. You will need to set up a share, which is easier to do in windows (right click > properties > sharing tab > click sharing, I think). Make sure you give yourself read AND write permissions. Also, delete the group everyone, because that is incredibly unsafe. You will then need to mount this new network drive on the AA1. To do this, you need to use the mount command:

sudo mount -t cifs //IP_OR_HOSTNAME_OF_WINDOWS_BOX/SHARENAME /FOLDER_YOU_WANT_TO_MOUNT_IT_TO -o user=WINDOWS_USERNAME,pass=WINDOWS_PASSWORD

For example, to mount a share called SHARE on a windows pc with the name COMPUTER (the hostname can be found on the windows computer by going to the command prompt and entering hostname) in the /media/share folder, with the username USERNAME and password PASSWORD, I would type:

sudo mount -t cifs //COMPUTER/SHARE /media/share -o user=USERNAME,pass=PASSWORD

if you mount it without username and passowrd protection or with read permissions for the EVERYONE GROUP (the default) which isn't wise with the conficker C virus going around, you can ommit the -o and everything following.

You can then navigate to /media/share and navigate as if it were a folder on the local computer, meaning you can copy your document over easily.

EDIT: by the way, I know this is a bit technical. If you have any questions, just let me know.

 

You can use the XP Home Network wizard and folder-sharing process to share specific folders on each PC - right click Properties/sharing/network etc. Then install a simple MS application called SyncToy to automatically update everything in the shared folders on the two PCs. Of course you want to do this sharing behind a WPA encrypted router firewall for security.

With internet access, it's even simpler. No need for Windows networking. The easiest is a little free application called DropBox - it creates an online backup folder and a "dropbox" folder at a location of choice on each computer - when you drop a file into the Dropbox one PC it goes to the online site and is automatically sent to the other PC's dropbox as soon as it is turned on. DropBox is also neat because the online box records and saves all the changed versions of the file (so long as the name is not changed) so if you want to revert to an earlier version of the document you can. I've installed My DropBox folders in the "Shared Folders" and provided sharing privileges so I can still sync off line.

UPDATE - 091007: deleted paragraph about Microsoft Live Mesh beta, which I've now quit using for recent unreliability. Returned to DropBox.

My one security caution is that I encrypt all confidential documents before putting them into an online service like DropBox - using AxCrypt. Google these for more. Hope something here is useful.