[TriLUG] peer to peer file transfer from boot disk or cd

[Mike Norwood]

Hi,

We sometimes need to transfer files from Windows PC's to Linux PC's away 
from our offices.  We generally do not know much about the Windows PC in 
advance, but if they have a cdrom writer great, if not then we can be in 
trouble.  We sometimes just use a parallel port zip drive as these are 
generally older pcs, but then we sometimes have to mess around in the bios 
to make sure parallel port configured correctly.  

What I am really looking for is a process where I can boot the windows 
machine from a linux disk or cd (it would be ideal if small enough to fit 
on either, as sometimes one or the other does not work), and as easily as 
possible (with minimum user interaction, as I am not the only one who does 
this), the network card is detected, the drive is mounted, IP address is 
assigned.  Ideally there would also be a separate diskette or cd that 
would run on the Linux end that would temporarily run necessary services 
for the other end (DHCP, ftp or ssh server, etc.) as I do not really want 
to run any of these permanently on the linux machine.  I am sure that I 
can do this given them time, (using one of the many linux distributions 
on floppy or cd) but if anyone is aware of a good starting point or has 
already done anything similar, any help is appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
Mike Norwood