can i set up a machine with lunix mint and dropbox and have the lunix machine act as a server for the dropbox files or do i have to setup a ftp server on the lunix machine and use another program so it will be able to communicate to windows 8. this is my first server attempt ever and its for my mom to use as a database for client info files.
The point of dropbox is to have your stuff on the cloud, not on your own server. I have no idea on how to set up a server so I can't really help you. Btw google drive is a lot cheaper than dropbox and you start with 5GB of free storage.
sadly my moms dropbox is always full so i was trying to make a server to dump it on so she can put more stuff in it and move it as needed. found out hard way mint does not support dropbox but ubuntu does. so next install will tell if i can get it to work the way i want it to. if not then ill have to make it into a ftp server. or just break down and buy windows server.
You could give Remobo a try. Then you could just use network shares i guess.
http://www.remobo.com/
Otherwise theres a ton of other Dropbox-like applications such as Sugarsync, Google Drive, Cubby, etc.
Don't know if they support Linux Mint natively. I read that Insync has support for Linux mint 14
https://www.insynchq.com/
This is a client for Google Drive that works just like dropbox, with some additional features.
Mint doesn't support dropbox? Then how am I using dropbox on mint right now??
mint 14 does not natively support dropbox. you have to compile it your self thats how you are using it. lol im a lunix noob i tryed to compile it my self and it refused to work right. moved over to ubuntu and it works natively. oddly enough i like mints interface more than i like the defalt ubuntu interface. will have to learn how to do customization some time down the line but for now it works. sooner or later the server will be moved from my house and once thats done ill set up a ftp server to get rid of dropbox.
just make your own private ftp with samba
Nah, use ownCloud. I use it on my raspi with an external 1TB HDD.
now we're talkin
Owncloud is a good solution. You just need to set up the sql on an apache server. In practice that works just like dropbox, except it is your own server.
jeesus samba is a powerful tool and looks complex as hell good luck to me for geting it setup right rinzler thanks for the help will try setting it up for my home network then when it gets moved ill know how to set it up again.