[SWLUG] home directories over a network

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i'm considering at some point rationalising my setup and having one home 
directory that can be used from any machine on the lan, apps and stuff will 
still run on the local machine
what sort of specs would the machine that hosts the home directories need to 
have? i can't see that it would need to be very much but maybe there is 
something i don't know? :)
also i would like to have the same box serve home directories to the winxp box 
using samba - is this something win does and can samba do it?, by home 
directories in win i'm referring to the whole of the "documents and settings" 
tree, not just the individual "my documents" folders
in case you wonder, i'm thinking of doing this because i need to buy more disk 
space on all machines, i figured that i could buy one big-ass but cheap and 
slow drive for home storage and use the space freed on the current faster 
drives for apps and stuff, i'm also thinking that perhaps the home 
directories box should be the password server (is that the right term?) for 
all the machines lin and win, does this all seem reasonable on a k6-3 450mhz?

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-- 
It is the fate of all banisters worth sliding down that there is something
nasty waiting at the far end.
(Maskerade)