LDP
/
old-www
1
1
Fork 0
Code Issues Pull Requests Releases Wiki Activity
old-www/LDP/LG/issue95/tag/4.html

225 lines
7.4 KiB
HTML
Raw Permalink Blame History

<!--startcut ==============================================-->
<!-- *** BEGIN HTML header *** -->
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META NAME="generator" CONTENT="lgazmail v1.4G.k">
<TITLE>The Answer Gang 95: a linux solution for the office</TITLE>
</HEAD><BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#0000FF" VLINK="#0000AF"
ALINK="#FF0000">
<!-- *** END HTML header *** -->
<!--endcut ==============================================-->
<!-- begin 4 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif"
height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
>a linux solution for the office</H3>
<p><strong>From amitava maity
</strong></p>
<p></strong></p>
<p align="right"><strong>Answered By: Ben Okopnik, Kapil Hari Paranjape, Heather Stern, Thomas Adam
</strong></p>
<P><STRONG>
Hello all!
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
We have three Windows machines at our office. These are shared by 10 to
12 persons. I am trying to find out if one of these machines could be
converted into a Linux box. Hopefully this Linux box can then be
configured to meet the demands of 8 terminals connected via serial
cables and an appropriate 8 terminal serial adaptor.GUI is necessary at
all the terminals. Is this a feasible configuration? Can a Pentium-II,
233MHz machine with an IDE hard disk be used for this purpose?
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Linux Gazette, you are doing a great job.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
A Maity.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Ben]
Take a look at the Linux Terminal Server Project &lt;<A HREF="http://ltsp.org/&gt"
>http://ltsp.org/&gt</A>;. It
sounds like they'll fit your needs just fine.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
Is this a feasible configuration?
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Kapil]
There are two possible configurations:
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote><ol>
<LI>A server with a multi-port serial adapter which is connected via
<LI>A server connected to an ethernet hub to which GUI terminals (such
</ol></blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
In modern times, (2) is the way to go unless you already have the full
infrastructure of (1). (Where will you find vt100 terminals nowadays?).
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
If you are going to buy some PC's you can anyway buy them with ethernet
cards built-in and a small 16-port ethernet hub. In fact, you can buy
"thin clients" if you use a server---in particular, you can save on
disk costs.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
I would suggest that you do not buy 8 vt100 terminals! This is not
cost effective nowadays. Second-hand vt100 terminals are likely to be a
hardware headache (since it would appear from your message that you are
not a seasoned sysadmin of the unix days) and (more importantly) will
not satisfy those of your users who are used to the colorful graphical
interface of Windows.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Instead, you can "share" the use of the GNU/Linux machine as you have
been sharing the use of the Windows machines---in fact this is a more
shareable system!
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Advantages over your existing configuration:
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote><ol>
<LI>Users will be able to customize their desktop without interfering
<LI>Users will be able to run jobs that can run unattended in the
<LI>You can find and use a lot of useful software without attracting
<LI>When you get some funds you can add some more Linux machines very
</ol></blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather]
Probably, esp. if you use something a bit on the lightweight side for
basic window management details (such as fvwm instead of more weighty
desktops, abiword with gnumeric instead of staroffice, etc.)
</blockQuote>
<font color="#660000"><blockquote><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Thomas] Siag office (<A HREF="http://www.siag.org"
>http://www.siag.org</A>) isn't too bad.
</blockquote></font>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather]
Ben's right, LTSP is a good place to look. If these "terminals" are
PCs but you'd reather they stay hard-diskless, consider keeping them
having CD bays and run knoppix (a live CD distro). Or maybe another
liveCD distro (for instance <A HREF="http://www.suse.com/">SuSE</A> has a free one) but I'm advised, most
of them ask a few sysadminly questions during bootup, and Knoppix doesn't.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
Linux Gazette, you are doing a great job.
A Maity.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather]
Thanks, we love to hear that sort of thing!
</blockQuote>
<!-- end 4 -->
<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<hr>
<CENTER><SMALL><STRONG>
<h5>
<br>Copyright &copy; 2003
<br>Copying license <A HREF="">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A>
<BR>Published in Issue 95 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, October 2003</H5>
</STRONG></SMALL></CENTER>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
<SMALL><CENTER><H6 ALIGN="center">HTML script maintained by
<A HREF="mailto:star@starshine.org">Heather Stern</a> of
Starshine Technical Services,
<A HREF="http://www.starshine.org/">http://www.starshine.org/</A>
</H6></SMALL></CENTER>
<HR>
<!--startcut ======================================================= -->
<P> <hr>
<!-- begin tagnav ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::-->
<p align="center">
<table width="100%" border="0"><tr>
<td align="right" valign="center"
><IMG ALT="" SRC="../../gx/navbar/left.jpg"
WIDTH="14" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="middle" border="0"
><A HREF="../index.html"
><IMG SRC="../../gx/navbar/toc.jpg" align="middle"
ALT="[ Table Of Contents ]" border="0"></A
><A HREF="../lg_answer.html"
><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/answertoc.jpg" align="middle"
ALT="[ Answer Guy Current Index ]" border="0"></A></td>
<td align="center" valign="center"><A HREF="../lg_answer.html#greeting"><img align="middle"
src="../../gx/dennis/smily.gif" alt="greetings" border="0"></A> &nbsp;
<A HREF="../../tag/bios.html">Meet&nbsp;the&nbsp;Gang</A> &nbsp;
<A HREF="1.html">1</A> &nbsp;
<A HREF="2.html">2</A> &nbsp;
<A HREF="3.html">3</A> &nbsp;
<A HREF="4.html">4</A> &nbsp;
<A HREF="5.html">5</A> &nbsp;
<A HREF="6.html">6</A> &nbsp;
<A HREF="7.html">7</A> &nbsp;
<A HREF="8.html">8</A>
</td>
<td align="left" valign="center"><A HREF="../../tag/kb.html"
><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/answerpast.jpg" align="middle"
ALT="[ Index of Past Answers ]" border="0"></A
><IMG ALT="" SRC="../../gx/navbar/right.jpg" align="middle"
WIDTH="14" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0"></td></tr></table>
</p>
<!-- end tagnav ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::-->
<!--endcut ========================================================= -->
<P> <hr>
<!--startcut ======================================================= -->
<CENTER>
<!-- *** BEGIN navbar *** -->
<!-- *** END navbar *** -->
</CENTER>
</p>
<!--endcut ========================================================= -->
<!--startcut ======================================================= -->
</BODY></HTML>
<!--endcut ========================================================= -->
Reference in New Issue View Git Blame Copy Permalink