trying to set up network,1 machine windows 7,1 machine windows xp,1 machine 11.10

How does the Ubuntu system connect to the network?
Can you ping the router?
Can you ping 8.8.8.8?

i hook up to internet w/century link dsl & netgear n300 router. how do you ping a router? 8.8.8.8?

In a terminal run:

ping 192.168.0.1 -c 4
ping 8.8.8.8 -c 4

Do you get replies?

lynn@lynn-Inspiron-530:~$ ping 192.168.0.1 -c 4
PING 192.168.0.1 (192.168.0.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_req=1 ttl=253 time=2.08 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_req=2 ttl=253 time=1.91 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_req=3 ttl=253 time=1.91 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_req=4 ttl=253 time=1.86 ms

--- 192.168.0.1 ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% packet loss, time 3005ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 1.868/1.943/2.081/0.081 ms
lynn@lynn-Inspiron-530:~$ ping 8.8.8.8 -c 4
PING 8.8.8.8 (8.8.8.8) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_req=1 ttl=52 time=56.5 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_req=2 ttl=52 time=56.1 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_req=3 ttl=52 time=57.0 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_req=4 ttl=52 time=57.0 ms

--- 8.8.8.8 ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% packet loss, time 3003ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 56.175/56.700/57.024/0.348 ms

Great then you are on the network and have web access.

how do i link machines? how do i get to recognize on windows 7 machine - device? printer? how do i network 11.10 machine? recognize window machine(s)? printer(s)?

i search for devices,printers on windows 7 machine, it doesn't recognize 11.10 machine. Do I need to download packages to have windows 7 machine recognize 11.10 machine.. aka: samba or ?

or do i need to download packages on 11.10 machine to get window machine(s) to recognize it?

can you ping the systems IP and / or names?
What are you wanting to link them to achieve? 'link' tells us very little. is one a mail server you want to connect to?

i want to be able to transfer files,information. how do i ping the other systems? sorry questions maybe dumb,but have never linked computers in a network. windows 7 machine recognizes wireless printer & printer connected to xp machine. I would like to access the 11.10 machine on windows 7 machine... Thank you for time/effort to help me .very appreciated. hope you had/have happy holiday season.

Why didn't you say that instead of 'connect to the network'? There is a world of difference, if you can ping your default gateway (your router in this case), then you are on the network. Connecting to a Windows host for the sake of file sharing is a bit more.

You can ping in a terminal using the command:

ping -c 4 hostname

Change hostname for the Win7 PCs actual hostname