Re: My hard-to-kill OpenBSD

2007-04-13 Thread stuart van Zee
 -Original Message-
 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of
 Jordan Klein
 Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2007 4:08 PM
 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Subject: Re: My hard-to-kill OpenBSD


  -Original Message-
  From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On
 Behalf Of
  Tim
  Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2007 1:03 PM
  To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Subject: Re: My hard-to-kill OpenBSD
 

 snip

 
  I've noticed that to a lot of techies have this attitude:
 
  if it isn't GUI, it's not worth knowing.
 
  I said GUI instead of Windows because now that you can do a lot of
  things with a GUI on Linux, even the Linux people are starting to
  have this attitude, especially newbies.  It's even frustrating to
  teach a newbie the advantages of vi.  Never mind that I would much
  rather talk a computer-illiterate person over the phone on how to
  change a configuration file with vi than any other GUI text editor.
 
  When I first started toying with OpenBSD, I installed it on an old
  system laying around.  Then I got bored and tried to install
  Debian, Red  Hat, NetBSD, and FreeBSD.  All of them could not get
  past the installation routines.  So I put OpenBSD back on.  This
  really isn't a fair story because it was so long ago and I don't
  remember all the details.  But I do remember the impression OpenBSD
  had on me because of this.
 

 It's not only the users.  It's the disto makers, as well.  If you've seen
 any current distros of Linux, almost all of them are standardizing on GUI
 installs, and GUI management.  In fact, they've gotten to the point where
 it's getting much harder to manage them through the command-line,
 because of
 the insane configuration files that redhat, suse, and the others are using
 now.

 What's worse is that since new sysadmins are not learning the command-line
 anymore, they're going to be in a LOT of trouble if the GUI is
 broken (i.e.,
 xorg.conf is misconfigured).  While using a GUI can be useful,
 having easy,
 complete control from a command-prompt is vital.

 My OpenBSD install has no X installed, and is fully managed via ssh or
 console.  That's the way UNIX was meant to be managed.

 --
 Jordan Klein ~  Beware of dragons
 [EMAIL PROTECTED]  ~  for you are crunchy
 Solaris / OpenBSD / Linux Admin  ~  and go well with ketchup


It's been a while since I have had to bother with Linux (mostly because
my boss wouldn't know the differance) but I have to say that the last
time I was forced to use the L word I had a hell of a time trying to
get it configured properly.  With OpenBSD, I know where everything is,
there are only a few main configuration files and they are organized in
a logical way.  After having to do it a few times, I can totally under-
stand why some Linux guys want a GUI for config.  The learning curve for
command line config of a Linux system is ginormous, or at least it
seemed so to me (others are probably smarter than I am).  I would
rather spend my time on OpenBSD and watch things just work than beat my
head up against the Linux wall.  Now I could only wish that the
microsoft servers that I have to bother with could add a simple command
line config (ok, hell could freeze over).  The way MS has worked to
make things easier and easier with all the wizzards etc (crap) it's
getting so that fine grained control is all but gone and if the wizz
can't do it, it can't be done.  That's the real problem with GUI config
as I see it.

stuart



Re: My hard-to-kill OpenBSD

2007-04-13 Thread Henry Sieff

On 4/13/07, stuart van Zee [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

[SNIP]

 The way MS has worked to
make things easier and easier with all the wizzards etc (crap) it's
getting so that fine grained control is all but gone and if the wizz
can't do it, it can't be done.  That's the real problem with GUI config
as I see it.


/LURK

Microsoft is finally starting to see the light (a little bit).
Powershell will finally expose all gui functionality to the
command-line, and Exchange 2007 will actually ship without a gui
management console - its management is done via powershell.

FWIW. YMMV. DBMIOWH.

LURK



Re: My hard-to-kill OpenBSD

2007-04-12 Thread Tim
 Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2007 08:48:26 -0700 (PDT)
 From: Obiozor Okeke [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Subject: Re: My hard-to-kill OpenBSD
 To: Rico Secada [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 
  I try to  explain to my Linux friends just how
 great a system OpenBSD really is and some people
 just don't get it!  I am MUCH more productive
 because I can go and do more work and a higher
 quality of work without having to tend to or keep
 checking up on a fragile box - I've even had an
 OpenBSD box run strong with a bad memory bank (that
 Linux would not install on)!

I've noticed that to a lot of techies have this attitude:

if it isn't GUI, it's not worth knowing.

I said GUI instead of Windows because now that you can do a lot of 
things with a GUI on Linux, even the Linux people are starting to 
have this attitude, especially newbies.  It's even frustrating to 
teach a newbie the advantages of vi.  Never mind that I would much 
rather talk a computer-illiterate person over the phone on how to 
change a configuration file with vi than any other GUI text editor.

When I first started toying with OpenBSD, I installed it on an old 
system laying around.  Then I got bored and tried to install 
Debian, Red  Hat, NetBSD, and FreeBSD.  All of them could not get 
past the installation routines.  So I put OpenBSD back on.  This 
really isn't a fair story because it was so long ago and I don't 
remember all the details.  But I do remember the impression OpenBSD 
had on me because of this. 

--
Need cash? Click to get an instant cash advance
http://tagline.hushmail.com/fc/CAaCXv1KmERGDiMZuZL4koo1G8xit51z/



Re: My hard-to-kill OpenBSD

2007-04-12 Thread Jordan Klein
 -Original Message-
 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of
 Tim
 Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2007 1:03 PM
 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Subject: Re: My hard-to-kill OpenBSD
 

snip

 
 I've noticed that to a lot of techies have this attitude:
 
 if it isn't GUI, it's not worth knowing.
 
 I said GUI instead of Windows because now that you can do a lot of
 things with a GUI on Linux, even the Linux people are starting to
 have this attitude, especially newbies.  It's even frustrating to
 teach a newbie the advantages of vi.  Never mind that I would much
 rather talk a computer-illiterate person over the phone on how to
 change a configuration file with vi than any other GUI text editor.
 
 When I first started toying with OpenBSD, I installed it on an old
 system laying around.  Then I got bored and tried to install
 Debian, Red  Hat, NetBSD, and FreeBSD.  All of them could not get
 past the installation routines.  So I put OpenBSD back on.  This
 really isn't a fair story because it was so long ago and I don't
 remember all the details.  But I do remember the impression OpenBSD
 had on me because of this.
 

It's not only the users.  It's the disto makers, as well.  If you've seen
any current distros of Linux, almost all of them are standardizing on GUI
installs, and GUI management.  In fact, they've gotten to the point where
it's getting much harder to manage them through the command-line, because of
the insane configuration files that redhat, suse, and the others are using
now.

What's worse is that since new sysadmins are not learning the command-line
anymore, they're going to be in a LOT of trouble if the GUI is broken (i.e.,
xorg.conf is misconfigured).  While using a GUI can be useful, having easy,
complete control from a command-prompt is vital.

My OpenBSD install has no X installed, and is fully managed via ssh or
console.  That's the way UNIX was meant to be managed.

-- 
Jordan Klein ~  Beware of dragons
[EMAIL PROTECTED]  ~  for you are crunchy
Solaris / OpenBSD / Linux Admin  ~  and go well with ketchup