Hmm some progress has been made.
I removed the smb.conf file and wrote a new one manually but for some reason it only wants to let me connect as "Guest" and not a real user with some privileges?
[global] workgroup = my group server string = Mars netbios name = Mars security = SHARE load printers = no encrypt passwords = yes guest ok = no
[home] path = /home/mars writeable = yes valid users = mars public = no available = yes printable = no