[OT-ish] nfs v. samba

[James Fogg]

> I've been trying to come up with a system to share files in 
> my home network consisting of a desktop computer and a 
> laptop, using a wireless router. Both are Breezy, but I 
> sometimes boot my laptop to WindowsXP, but don't plan on 
> needing to access files on my Breezy box from XP.

Samba (and Windows drive sharing) uses the CIFS protocol, which is
exceeding drunk and stupid. It has no sliding window mechanism and is
therefore a dog on fast links (anything faster than dialup Internet). On
the Windows side of things, it also gets "lost" during very large file
xfers and will hang or drop entire files.