Using Nemo to share files via SMB, or Windows style fileshares

You can share any user directory you wish by using Nemo, the file browser provided by default in Linux Mint. Start Nemo, the file browser and navigate to a directory somewhere below your home that you want to share. Rt-Click the directory of choice and select Properties. Then take a close look at the "Sharing" tab.

- Select "Share this Folder"
This will let you access the folder from another system as a SMB share. Before you can actually access this you will need a samba password. So create one by going to the command line and typing
$ sudo smbpasswd -a user
...where user is your user name on the Linux system.
...Now you can go to a Windows or OS X, or another Linux machine and access the share on your Linux system. Use the credentials of your Linux username and the smb password you provided when you ran the command above.

Keep in mind that your Linux Mint password and your smb password are independent. They do not need to be the same.

You can always change your samba password on your Linux Mint system by going to the command prompt and simply entering:
$ smbpasswd
..it will prompt you for the old password then prompt you twice for the new password.

Going back to revisit the share Properties; you can select guest access, such that you don't need to have an account to view the share. Anyone can then browser to the SMB share on the Linux box to read files. This presents a very open share.

Revisiting the share Properties yet again, you can also create the share such that you must have an account on the Linux system (and a smb user), but would have read-only access to the share.
$ sudo adduser shareuser
$ sudo smbpasswd -a shareuser
..Now shareuser can access the share you created, BUT will only have read access. Guests with no local smb account entry will not have access at all. This type of share lets you share data with others who have the smb credentials you provide them. You can even create the account such that it has no login permission on the system by using the "--disabled-login" command line option.

I have seen lots of convoluted and confusing ways to accomplish fileshare on Linux. This is by far the most simple that I have discovered.