[Samba] Best strategy for setup

[Erik Anderson]

I have setup samba on a few servers. Each time, it has been a little 
confusing, I read, re-read the documentation, and finally get something 
that works. Usually, I feel like I have not done it the best way.

I have looked at how-tos and guides. I am still a novice in *nix.

This time, I am reaching out for some help. For some reason, I am just an 
idiot with Samba. I understand the configuration for individual shares, but 
I think it is the security, users, and group membership that is confusing.

Let me start with my objective:
I have several Windoze machines on a home network (XP and 7). Some are 
desktops and some are laptops. The laptops are home at night and gone 
during the day (roaming). I would like to use Samba as a method for backup 
and general file sharing. In general, the same person uses the same machine 
day-in/day-out. For each user, I would like to take their My Documents and 
Profile settings are store them on the server. Then, I would like the files 
to be available offline on the Windows machine. In addition, there will be 
Public files (media essentially) that are read/write for everyone. Of 
course, there are a couple printers to share, the main one being connected 
to a Windoze XP box.

I can share my smb.conf, but was hoping someone could help me out with the 
best way to do this.

I am guessing:
1. security=user
2. use roaming configuration in smb
3. manually create each windows user in both nix and smb, using the 
existing windows password and names (???)
4. setup shares in smb.conf
5. use windows "make network drive available offline"

Is this the right concept to get started? What am I missing?

Thank you in advance.
4. put script