My wife, daughter and I have mandrake 9.0 on our computers. We are connected via a network hub. Can I access my wife's computer and files? Can she see my files and share as we do in Windows XP. We multi boot our coputers. I can see my windows partitions in file manager, but I don't see the network.

Use "Samba" to see the windows partition on your linux box..... you can download it on Mandrake website. Good luck.

I believe I installed in when I did the initial install on the computers, as I can see the windows partitions of that computer. What I don't know how to see is the other Linux computers on the network. With Windows we could send files back and forth, pictures, etc. How do we send pictures or other files from computer to computer with Linux? The netork in Linux is assigned statci IP addresses for each computer. They can even acces the interent through my computer as the gateway to the satellite 2-way system. Neither my wife nor daughter have a modem in their computer, so to access the internet, they would have to do it over a LAN.

There are several methods for sharing files, SSH, FTP, NFS, SMB etc all with pros and cons. If you are all running linux, I would suggest having a look at NFS (Network File System). Have a look at the "Linux NFS-HOWTO" which you should be able to find on your system somewhere under /usr/doc/HOWTO You only really need samba if you want to integrate with a windoze network.