SRS, first of all you want a working TCP/IP network. Personally, I choose to use static IP and as I have an always on server use DNS to resolve host names.]

For sharing, samba can make a Linux computer become part of a Windows workgroup. Also I gather there are nfs clients for Windows, I think ssh can be used on Windows , there is always ftp, etc. Linux (and I'd imagine other Unix like) distributions come loaded with these type of things as "standard".


For a graphical approach, as mentioned before, VNC is available for a number of operating systems. It (at least the only way I've used it) is a bit odd as you are logged on and have the other (remote) machine operating your mouse and keyboard but it does its job well.