Hi all,
       this network problem is driving me crazy!

 Everything is working great now... all but one thing. I've been
through Sambo so many times I know it off by heart, and nothing I
change helps.

 On the Linux machine, I also have Win311 and Win98 loaded, on
separate drives. Win311 (drive C:) is formatted FAT16. Win98 (drive
E:) uses FAT32... both mounted as vfat under Linux. I'd like to be
able to access those drives from the networked Windows machine, and I
can *nearly* do it.

 There is no trouble reading them, or copying, erasing, whatever.
There is no problem changing and saving them... so long as I don't
use Word2000 or WordPad. Older programs like Word for Windows, DOS
editors, and such (all running under Win98) at fine.

 Of course, Windows is not backwardly compatible (thank you Bill).
If I open a WORD 2000 file using WfW it can only load it as Text, but
I can edit it and save it on the network. What happens then, is that
Word 2000 can't read it at all. It complains about corruption but this
happens normally, network of not. I have no idea what WfW does to the 
Word 2000 format that stuffs it. Word 2000 is too clever by half...

 But Word 2000 can open a WfW file on the network. I can edit it, and
save it in WfW format no problem (Word 2000 can save in existing WfW
format), but if I try to save that same file in Word 2000 format (on
the network), it barfs. I get a message telling me I'm out of memory
(classic M$ answer to everything), or the disc is damaged or write
protected. Of course it isn't. Even if I *create* a file on the
network drives, I can't save it. I can create it on the local drive,
and save it, and then copy it across, but I can't save it to the
network *Windows* drive. I can save it to the Linux drive okay.  

 I get the same thing if I open a Word 2000 document and edit - it
won't let me save in Word 2000 format.

 32-bit WRITE (WordPad) is even worse. It goes ahead and saves, locks
up, and sends the file to computer-heaven.

 The *mad* part, is that I have no problem editing and saving Linux
files with Word 2000!

 I thought it might be the long names, and I don't have many 32-bit
programs, but Delphi, CBuilder and JBuilder all work fine. AutoCad
works fine.

 I can actually open the Word2000 EXE stored on the network drive!
But I can't save o nthe network to the Windows drives on the network.

 I'm stuffed! 

 If it was *just* Word 2000 I'd blame that, but WordPad has big
problems too. I can't really blame Win98 because other programs WfW,
Delphi, etc work perfectly well. I've been through Sambo all ways and
backwards, changing anything that vaguely might have an effect
(locking, oplocks, name mangling, permissions, you name it), and
apart from the obvious, none of those obscure settings make a blind
rat's arse of difference.

 Beats me...

 What is it about Word2000 (and WordPad) when saving to DOS-formatted
drives on Linux (both FAT16 and FAT32), but only when saving in Word6
or 7 (Win95-98) format... fucks up? It's clear that there is a bug in
Sambo (perhaps SMB itself), but what is it about the Word format that
provokes it? 

Regards,
Bob
        

--- BQWK Alpha 0.5