Comment 10 for bug 316862

my problems only started after 01/01/09 exact date not known.
the above still wasn't working for me 02/07/09
and i was very very annoyed and frustrated.
(not with ubuntu with networking in general, i have had issues before but nothing like this)

so i activated a samba wins server
 - made one machine a wins server (picked on a ibex 386 server install) - made all other machines use wins (assortment of ubuntu, solaris, vista, xp, 2000 and others ) - allowed complete browsing in nautilus with default install (authenticated and guest) and fixed various ubuntu to xp, ubuntu to ubuntu, xp to xp etc issues with peer to peer networking. i have vanilla ubuntu hardy, ibex configurations (now with wins server = xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx and name resolve order = wins lmhosts bcast in smb.conf) - on windows machines i forced netbios over tcp as well.

stole the lines for the wins server from:
http://whereofwecannotspeak.wordpress.com/2007/10/24/samba-as-a-wins-server-in-a-windows-peer-network/

 nautilus browsing in jaunty 386, ibex 386 & amd 64, hardy 386 and amd64 all work now

i don't think this issue is a samba/gvfs issue itself or even limited to linux - xp machines that would not connect to each other now have no issues either. using a wins server cleans up xp only peer to peer networks (lan game connections over tcp now work consistently)

btw i still limit workgroup machine names to 8 characters to help old windows machines