Best File Serving Solution for Multiple Platforms

[Salvo]

I have a variable Menagerie of Computers here. WinME, MacOS X, BeOS, Linux and Win98. (no XP or 2K). I also have one AirPort.
I wish to be able to quickly and easily transfer Large Files Between Machines. It can't be guaranteed that any single System will be running (except the AirPort), so a central File Server is not an option. All Systems are Single-User so a DropBox would be the simplest Solution.
BeOS, MacOS X, and Linux support CIFS(SMB), NFS and AFP over IP.
WinME and Win98 support SMB natively, but I'm not sure about NFS or AFP over IP. BeOS also supports BeServed, but that's not much use, since none of the other machines do.

Basically, my question is, Does anyone know an AFP over IP Driver for Windows 9x?
Alternatively, does anyone know a way to Implement DropBoxes (Write Only Network Shares) using SMB or NFS on a Win9x Machine?
Also, is there a way to automatically detect DropBox Shares, a-la Rendezvous?

 

[michaelsanford]

I'd say go with samba; I don't know anything about BeOS...

And if you use Samba and make sure all your nodes are in the same workgroup you should be able to browse to all the shared folders rather easily.

I don't know about setting up write-only folders on Windows though.

 

[symphonix]

Basically, my question is, Does anyone know an AFP over IP Driver for Windows 9x?

I'm afraid not.

Alternatively, does anyone know a way to Implement DropBoxes (Write Only Network Shares) using SMB or NFS on a Win9x Machine?

- Make a folder.
- Right click on the folder and select "Sharing"
- Put in the settings there that you desire (eg: how users connect, what rights they have) though I should point out that Win95 does not have much control over some of these options.

Also, is there a way to automatically detect DropBox Shares, a-la Rendezvous?

Just give the sharename something like "DropBox" and when a user picks that IP address in "Connect to Server" on OSX, or by browsing the server in Windows, they should see that "DropBox" as an available folder. Windows really doesn't have much allowance for automatically picking up what servers are available in the way that Rendezvous does.

 

[bwanabob]

There is an Apple Share client for windows. (Windows NT4 or Windows 2000 has it included. Windows XP doesn't)

There is a 3rd party package as well, called ExtremeZ-IP from www.grouplogic.com. I've never used it, so I can't comment on it. As for the unix side, NFS is the best way. But you can get an Appletalk package for most unix platforms from a company called Xinet. Its actually pretty good. (I've used it on Solaris and SGI's IRIX.)

In our facility, we typically use NFS, etc for all unix systems, and Samba to work with our Windoze systems.

bob..