Everyone, I don't want to make this a distro war, but one thing not to lose sight of is future availability. I've recently moved away from Red Hat to Debian specifically because of this, and am not planning to look back (read: I'm really pleased with Debian). With the recent purchase of SUSE by Novell I, for one, would not put money on SUSE/Novell not going the way of Red Hat. Bottom line: the more "open" we can make this the better. This project needs to be sustainable.
LTSP would be an ideal solution assuming the resources were available for the central server. IMHO running it with more than a couple of clients on anything less than a 1 GHz PIII with 1 GB RAM would be foolish. Until the resources are there to put such a system (or better) in as the server, I recommend we abandon LTSP as a possibility. From what I've seen so far, no "big servers" are coming our way. IMHO GNOME and KDE are the only real options for the GUI on desktops, so a minimum system requirement needs to be defined. Sure, they would run on lesser hardware, but we need some level of productivity and ease of use in this install. As such I absolutely agree that anything less than a PIII with 256 MB RAM is not worth pursuing for the desktops. If lesser hardware is all that is available by donations we need to try and get the RAM upped. If a couple of PIIs are available then by all means bring them in as low end servers handling routing, e-mail, file and print sharing. They will likely continue to have some Windows machines around so Samba, rather than NFS, would IMHO be the most likely direction to go for network sharing. Tunneling Samba through ssh is much easier than NFS, too. (As an aside, my friend here in Colorado uses ssh to tunnel port 139 from the home offices to the Samba server at the main office and runs Quickbooks on shared files through it. He has a shell script to set up the tunnel in a CygWin shell using OpenSSH). As for applications, I think it's pretty much obvious: OpenOffice.org and Mozilla make up the basis for the bulk of the requirement outside of accounting, especially since they both cross over to the Windows world. My experience with Evolution (in a GNOME environment) has been outstanding, although it's not cross platform (plus since Ximian's purchase by Novell I'm also leery of it for a recommendation). I would definitely NOT recommend going to any of the K tools. The users WILL need to share files and experiences with Windows users, and the K tools are not conducive to this. I'm not familiar with the various accounting packages available beyond GnuCash, so I won't bring an opinion to the table on that aside from try to keep it to an ASP type interface (i.e. it works in a browser). If the best tool for the job is an X app we need to make sure any Windows users that do show up have an easy install for CygWin and XFree86 to run it from a server (although we once again run into LTSP type issues in that case). This is a great opportunity for RLUG. Thank you Dennis for bringing it to the table. If properly managed we could probably get an article in Linux Journal or something. With that in mind I suggest someone take the ball and run with organizing the project and starting a SIG or something; what's the new constitution say about this? Cheers! Jay (struggling with a Windows box and Outlook while on vacation in CO) -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of C. Richard Matson Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2003 8:52 PM To: Bill Cunningham; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [RLUG] RE: RLUG digest, Vol 1 #286 - 7 msgs On Tue December 30 2003 3:03 pm, Bill Cunningham wrote: > Hey, > > The KDE version shipping with the latest Mandrake is scaled > down and simplified for the end user. During install it > specifically asks if the user is new to the desktop > environment and adjusts the menus accordingly. Might be > worth looking into. >$$$$$$$This sounds like the bestidea . Rich > --- Dennis Bagley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Because of the "level" of users at the Fair office, we > > are expecting that a > > full GUI under X-windows > > would be simplest (probably KDE or GNOME.) The > > accounting software > > products being considered > > are Quasar, SQL Ledger and Lazy Eight Ledger. Office > > suite will be Open > > Office due to it's compatibility > > with M$ products and probably the Mozilla suite or > > Evolution for browser > > and email, though that's still open. > > Based on a few things I looked at, maybe the Ximian > > desktop should be > > considered, though I would like to hear > > from anybody who has actually used it in a corporate > > environment. > > > > I have some concerns that P-II's may not be fully up to > > the tasks under the > > latest kernel, > > if for no other reason than we need to keep support > > requirements as low as > > possible and > > speed high. > > > > Of course some of you may have another view. Perhaps > > creating a really > > beefy server > > then running all the other nodes as thin clients would > > enable using P-II's. > > > > But remember the end users are: > > A. New to Linux (most have never even seen it > > before) > > B. In some cases not even regular users of PCs > > C. Probably older than, shall we say, the median age > > of the RLUG > > membership. > > with substantially less computer experience, > > of any kind. > > D. Will want their hands held, for at least a little > > while. > > E. There will NOT be an in-house computer geek on > > staff. > > > > At 01:04 PM 12/30/2003, Johnny Lau wrote: > > >Hi, Everyone, > > > > > >Is it matter if it is PII? Only if it is ok then I will > > > > check with my boss, > > > > >may be we can donate some computer as well. > > > > > >Please let me know > > > > > >Johnny Lau > > >PC-Doctor, Inc. > > >Customer Relationship Manager > > >Tel: 775-336-4021 Fax: 775-336-4099 > > >Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > >Address: 9805 Double R Blvd. Suite 301 > > >Reno, Nevada 89521 > > > > > > > > >-----Original Message----- > > >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > On Behalf Of > > > > >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > >Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2003 12:00 PM > > >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > >Subject: RLUG digest, Vol 1 #286 - 7 msgs > > > > > >Send RLUG mailing list submissions to > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > >To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, > > > > visit > > > > > http://www.rlug.org/mailman/listinfo/rlug > > >or, via email, send a message with subject or body > > > > 'help' to > > > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > >You can reach the person managing the list at > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > >When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is > > > > more specific > > > > >than "Re: Contents of RLUG digest..." > > > > > > > > >Today's Topics: > > > > > > 1. NV Sate Fair (Dennis Bagley) > > > 2. Re: NV Sate Fair (John Morgan) > > > 3. Re: NV Sate Fair (Mark C. Ballew) > > > 4. Re: NV Sate Fair (Dennis Bagley) > > > 5. Re: NV Sate Fair (Dennis Bagley) > > > 6. Re: NV Sate Fair (Dennis Bagley) > > > 7. Re: (Dennis Bagley) > > > > > >--__--__-- > > > > > >Message: 1 > > >Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2003 16:41:41 -0800 > > >From: Dennis Bagley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > >To: RLUG <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > >Subject: [RLUG] NV Sate Fair > > > > > >I met with some board members today from the Nevada > > > > State Fair. > > > > >They are totally ready, able and willing to convert > > > > their office, > > > > >reporting and accounting structures > > >to a Linux/ Open Source platform. > > > > > >One of the board members is trying to secure 5 Pentium > > > > III's from the > > > > >county. > > >(Out of curiosity, what happened to the equipment from > > > > the City of Sparks?) > > > > >On the basis that hardware is secured, there will be a > > > > need for > > > > >Cable & ends > > >Router-switch > > >Some kind of simple back-up on data files (prefer > > > > automatic) > > > > >(Someone to string cable unless some of you in RAWUG > > > > have an > > > > > alternative you prefer?) > > > > > >Full CD copy of a recent distro (perhaps NOT RedHat?) > > > > > >I am planning on demoing three different open accounting > > > > packages > > > > > but if anyone has checked something out they like - > > > > please let me know. > > > > >Remember this is a non-profit agency with tight > > > > resources (read: no > > > > >money to spare) > > >Whatever RLUG can do to make this a smooth install is a > > > > definite plus for us > > > > > and the Fair, and it stands a good chance of > > > > getting some good press > > > > >maybe more than that. > > > > > >Dennis > > > > > > > > >--__--__-- > > > > > >Message: 2 > > >Subject: Re: [RLUG] NV Sate Fair > > >From: John Morgan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > >Cc: RLUG <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > >Organization: > > >Date: 29 Dec 2003 16:54:47 -0800 > > > > > >On Mon, 2003-12-29 at 16:41, Dennis Bagley wrote: > > > > I met with some board members today from the Nevada > > > > State Fair. > > > > > > They are totally ready, able and willing to convert > > > > their office, > > > > > > reporting and accounting structures > > > > to a Linux/ Open Source platform. > > > > > > > > One of the board members is trying to secure 5 > > > > Pentium III's from the > > > > > > county. > > > > (Out of curiosity, what happened to the equipment > > > > from the City of > > > > >Sparks?) > > > > > > > On the basis that hardware is secured, there will be > > > > a need for > > > > > > Cable & ends > > > > > >I have a spool of cable sitting at the house and have > > > > plenty of ends, > > > > >crimpers, testers etc if needed. > > > > > > > Router-switch > > > > Some kind of simple back-up on data files (prefer > > > > automatic) > > > > > > (Someone to string cable unless some of you in RAWUG > > > > have an > > > > > > alternative you prefer?) > > > > > > > > Full CD copy of a recent distro (perhaps NOT RedHat?) > > > > > >Uhm SuSE 9.0 work? > > > > > > > I am planning on demoing three different open > > > > accounting packages > > > > > > but if anyone has checked something out they like > > > > - please let me know. > > === message truncated === > > > ===== > William Cunningham > Cell: (775) 813-6892 > http://cunndev.netfirms.com > > > __________________________________ > Do you Yahoo!? > Find out what made the Top Yahoo! Searches of 2003 > http://search.yahoo.com/top2003 > _______________________________________________ > RLUG mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://www.rlug.org/mailman/listinfo/rlug -- C. Richard Matson _______________________________________________ RLUG mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.rlug.org/mailman/listinfo/rlug _______________________________________________ RLUG mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.rlug.org/mailman/listinfo/rlug
