[K12OSN] Linux cut off

Fri Nov 19 18:12:56 UTC 2004

Gladly.  The jobs that I have to accomplish are as follows:

1.)  MS Exchange email.  Served by Ximian Evolution + Exchange 
Connector, yes, even before the ExchConn went GPL.

2.)  Web browsing.  I use two Web sites--Konqueror for Internet sites 
and Firefox+Java for internal sites.  That means that I don't have to 
keep reconfiguring my Web browser to turn off JavaScript, cookies, etc. 
when I need to surf outside.  My default browser, as far as Evolution is 
concerned, is Epiphany, with all that stuff turned off just like I did 
with Konqueror.

3.)  Office automation.  Obviously, OpenOffice.org.  :-)  I also will 
use Gnumeric and AbiWord at times.  When it comes to MS Office 
interoperability, nothing beats OO.o, but these latter two are pretty 
decent (especially Gnumeric, which is very good) with MS formats.  I 
have tried StarOffice 7, and I've found that, on the documents--quite a 
few of them very complex--that I've tried, OO.o and SO have shown me 
identical MS Office file compatibility, so, for me, there is no 
technical advantage to going with SO.

4.)  Router/firewall management (my actual stated job function):  SSH 
and telnet.  We're working on getting rid of telnet completely; we're 
almost there.

5.)  Accessing Windows shares:  smbmount.  Ends up looking and feeling a 
lot like My Network Places on Win32.

There is the possibility that I might, in the near future, have to run 
Internet Exploder, because one of the help desk apps (Remedy's "Magic") 
works only with IE.  To fix that, I'll simply run CrossOver Office, 
albeit grudgingly, if this does indeed come to pass (I hope not!).  I 
will do everything and anything that I can to prevent going back to 
Windows, and having that attitude helps a lot in some cases, depending 
on what you need to do.  Worst case scenario:  I can always log into a 
Windows box via rdesktop, and I have done so at 1024x768 resolution with 
16-bit (65,536) colors at a friend's office who I help out on weekends.

At work, the distribution that I'm currently using most often is SuSE 
Linux 9.1 Professional, although my laptop runs Slackware GNU/Linux 9.1, 
and my desktop was previously running K12LTSP 3.1.2 in "traditional 
workstation" mode.  I also did it with Red Hat Linux 7.3, which is to 
this day one of my favorite distributions; the HP OpenView NNM 
monitoring workstation in our NOC runs RHL 7.3.  At home, I run 
Slackware GNU/Linux 10.0, K12LTSP 3.1.2, Yellow Dog Linux 3.0.1 (soon to 
be 4.0--the CD's just came in!  Yaayyy!) and Linspire 4.5 Espanol on my 
desktops, all with the same apps that I run at work.  One exception:  
since all of my "production" home servers are GNU/Linux, I substitute 
smbmount for NFS mounts.

If you've got one or more tasks in mind that haven't been covered above, 
let me know, and I'll be glad to give you whatever input that I can.

--TP

KJ wrote:

> Hey Terrell,
> Not touching a Win32 app, that is fantastic!!!
> Do you have any pearls of wisdom for those of us who endeavor to get 
> to that spot in life?
>
> Thank you!
> KJ
>
> Terrell Prudé, Jr. wrote:
>
>> Permission is certainly granted.  Go for it!
>>
>> BTW, I have, for the last year, been able to go completely to 
>> GNU/Linux on my desktop, without ever touching a single Win32 app on 
>> said desktop.  This is in a total and complete dyed-in-the-wool 
>> Microsoft shop.  It is possible, and it's no longer hard.
>>
>> --TP
>>
>> Jim Kronebusch wrote:
>>
>>> Terrell,
>>>   This is one of the best set of analogies and yet the simplest single
>>> argument I have seen yet to exercise the point of OSS.  If you don't
>>> mind I would like your permission to print this and keep to present to
>>> the narrow-minded individuals I run into in the future.   I have 
>>> been quietly attempting to gather data to help prove this
>>> point in the schools I support.  Everyone always tells me they need
>>> certain software to teach.  Instead this year I am asking all of the
>>> teachers to put together an outline of the goals they hope to achieve
>>> when teaching students technology.  I have instructed them to not give
>>> me stuff like to learn Word, or Accelerated Reader.  But to give me
>>> stuff like to learn to type, to learn to use a word processor, and to
>>> also break down the range of skills they hope to teach in those
>>> categories such as how to bold, underline, create tables, etc.  Once
>>> they give me that list not knowing the real reason why, I will find
>>> software that helps them teach all of their stated goals and use their
>>> own documentation to prove my point.  At least that is my plan :-)
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>>  
>>>
>>>> You're right to duck like that.  The reason is that we are 
>>>> educators of *concepts* in K12 schools.  Having come from corporate 
>>>> myself, I don't see any justification for turning fourth-graders 
>>>> into "Good Little Employees" ready to be trained monkeys on 
>>>> specific applications.  Children don't learn how to write on just 
>>>> Avery-brand paper.  They learn how to write.  Period.  Same with 
>>>> math--we don't teach them how to add, subtract, multiply, and 
>>>> divide only on HP calculators.  Rather, we teach them how to add, 
>>>> subtract, multiply, and divide, period.  Same with cars.  The auto 
>>>> shop in every high school I've ever seen that has one teaches the 
>>>> kids how to work on cars, not just Fords, not just Chevys, not just 
>>>> Toyotas, etc.  They teach *automobiles*.
>>>>
>>>> What we should be focusing on is the *concept* of word processing.  
>>>> Same with using a spreadsheet--any spreadsheet, or any presentation 
>>>> software.  I don't want kids only being able to use Microsoft 
>>>> products; they're no good to me in my shop, and I won't--and 
>>>> can't--hire them.  Several educators have found that, when children 
>>>> are exposed to multiple implementations of the same concept, they 
>>>> get that concept a whole lot better.  I have found that to be true 
>>>> of myself even to this day.
>>>>
>>>> Schools do not have the same goals as corporations.  Corporations 
>>>> care strictly and only about the bottom line for shareholders.  The 
>>>> mission of schools, by contrast, is to get a young mind to develop 
>>>> and open up to new ideas.  K12 schools are not Voc-Tech institutes 
>>>> like ITT.  They're centers of general mental development, teaching 
>>>> children of all ages how to learn.  Am I opposed to children 
>>>> learning about Microsoft Windows and Office?  Not really.  Am I 
>>>> opposed to children learning about *ONLY* Microsoft Windows and 
>>>> Office?  Yes!
>>>>
>>>> If you think I'm wrong here, then, one corporate person to another, 
>>>> I'd like to know your thoughts.
>>>>
>>>> --TP
>>>>   
>>>
>>>
>>
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