BL> Linux is so intent on protecting "security" that it makes the
BL> Windows drives read-only, except for ROOT.

JB> Are the windows drives NTFS or FAT-32 ?

 They're actually FAT-32, but the Win98 machine identifies them as
NTFS.

 I discovered the reason for the root-only access. Apparently, under
Linux, whoever mounts the drive owns the drive unless you define it
differently in the fstab file. I gave the mounts to "bob" and that
fixed the read-only access... but now I have a different problem.

 WORD 2000 (and 32-bit WRITE) can't save changes made to the Network
files. They are no longer read-only, but WORD refuses to save, and
WRITE makes the file disappear. It's okay with NOTEPAD (both 32-bit
and 16-bit versions), QEDIT, and Word for Windows 2.

 Stuffups with Linux/Samba never seem to end, but this time I suppose
it's Win98 doing it. With two Win98 machines, there is no problem.

JB> FAT-32 (anf your dos-6 FAT-16) can be mounted to be writable by
JB> users you need to edit /etc/fstab (or uses some config tool if
JB> you have one for mounting partitions)

 I discovered that for myself.

JB> if it's a msdos or vfat filesystem what you may want is
JB> "umask=666" on the end of the fstab line for that partition.

 I tried all sorts of masks...

JB> if you onoy want "bob" to have access do "umask=600
uid=bob"

 The key is "uid-bob,gid=users". That sets the mask to 777.

JB> Then only bob and root will be able to read/write the windows
JB> drives.

 Yair...

JB> windows drives don't store ownership of files... try what I
JB> said above. 

 And it worked, excpet that now I have this WORD 2000 bug.

JB> dunno what a "mime link" is see if there's a spot where you can
JB> put uid=bob 

 I call "mime" the ext2 entry that identifies the actual file. So far
as I can work out, Linux ext2 is not like a DOS directory. It's more
like a pointer. What I call a "link" is where you link one mime entry
to another one (or to a device). That "link" is *exactly* like a
pointer.

Regards,
Bob

--- BQWK Alpha 0.5