Samba is a terrific software that bridges the gap between Linux and Windows PC's on the network. File sharing and print services are a lot more transparent though it's a lot easier from the Windows end. Setup is not that difficult either. Windows based machines use the SMB protocol to share files, printers and communicate. This is a proprietary protocol and Windows doesn't integrate as well with non-Windows networks using other protocols.
Print services are also a problem.
Samba is a terrific software that bridges the gap between Linux and Windows PC's on the network. File sharing and print services are a lot more transparent though it's a lot easier from the Windows end. Most distributions already come with the Samba binaries on the cd so you should look there first. At the web-site you will find both the source and the binaries for download. The latest version as of writing this article is 2.0.7 though I have used version 2.0.6 here in this article.