>Can anyone reconmend a simple/cheap software package for either mac or pc >that will let me get the one PC in house to talk to the 6 Macs in the house >?? Hi Pete, here - in my 'playland' - I have 11 Macs and about 3 Win-machines connected via one LinuxPPC-server on an 8500/180 (added an no-name 100 MBit-card without problems). The Mac-machines are served by 'atalkd' and the Win-machines by 'SAMBA'. The Apple printers are connected via Ethernet and addressed by the Linux-Server - accessible for both Mac and Win. Using the freeware 'Webmin' (http://www.webmin.com), administration of the Linux-System is a matter of 'point&click' via the webinterface. The system is really really fast - for example: if you switch of background-priniting on the Macs and print via the Linux-server, you get your printout from the printer in the same moment as you hit the 'Print'-button in the printer-dialog. Files are served to Mac and Win from the same partitions; atalkd and SAMBA organise the access to the same partitions/directories/files between each other. You may use any PCI-Power-Mac or any cheap IBM-compatible machine to set up the server. The software is free. After two unsuccessful installations (caused by my unability/unwillingness to read the short accompanying manuals at three o'clock in the morning) I set up the base system (including the harddrive formatting) within around 2 hours - after a good nights sleep :o). Fine-tuning the system takes a little longer - depending on what you want your server to do/serve - but should be a matter of hours. The price: nada - zilch - nothing. Time to spend: comparable to other solutions. System stability: no restart for two months now. In case the above might be an solution for you, I will gladly try to answer further questions. chris henkel -- -- Chris Henkel - ICQ 6097976 Fax +49-(0)69-791201890 http://www.Bytes-At-Work.com