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I would say that from a stability standpoint you will be much happier with Linux. Fewer blue screens and lockups. Most distributions don't come with Star Office, they come with the open source version Open Office. I've been very happy with that (and it saves to Word, Excel and Power Point files). That'll save you at least $100 per machine as you don't have to purchase Microsoft Office. For your suplemental CD, (if you go the Red Hat way) I'd include mp3 support from freshrpms.net and yum (also from that site). That'll allow the playback of MP3s as well as automatic software updates.
You'll want as much memory in the machines as possible. RHL 9 won't install if you have less than 64MB RAM. For a distro with a smaller install footprint and memory/processor requirements look at Debian or even Knoppix (which is a cd based Linux Distribution).
Also, if they are going to be doing this on a large number of machines, I would highly suggest setting up a kickstart installation. This allows you to set up multiple nearly identical machines effortlessly, i.e. no user input needed. Kickstarts are easy to create from an installed version of Red Hat Linux.
Now for dollar costs: Microsoft Windows 98 can be had for 25-30 dollars, but don't expect any updates. Microsoft will be phasing out support for this OS as it has for NT 4.0 by the end of the year. XP will set you back about $80 per machine for the home version. Professional about $130/machine. Support is only for an initial 90 days. After said 90 days support incidents will cost about $90 a call. Office small business edition will cost at least $100 per machine. This is a necessity if you want to print Doc files. OpenOffice for Windows available as an alternative to M$ Office. You will also need a virus scanning suite, which if you go with one of the industry leaders (McAffee or Symantec) will run you $35-$50 per machine. Going the microsoft route also requires more hands on system administration. Each machine will have to be updated regularly: Windows updates, Office updates and virus definition updates. This is not an automatic process (until you get to XP professional, at least on the Windows Updates track). Which means that the admin (or the user if savvy enough) must manually download and install the updates. Virus Definition updates are more streamlined, however Administrators must visit each machine to ensure that the user hasn't disabled any of these updates.
If you want/need a boxed software version of Linux it'll run between $45-$100, but includes almost everything you need. The firewalling support in Linux is much easier than in M$ 2000/XP, and therefore can be completely locked down to incoming connections. Of course being open source, you can download the software for free, even CD images. What you don't get when you download the free versions is automatic updates for more than one machine (that's why I suggested yum above), or installation/technical support. However, there are plenty of places on the web and elsewhere with enthusiasts willing to help out when they can. TriLUG is a great example. Also for the money you save not buying Microsoft licenses you could send your Systems Administrator to Linux School. Invest in an individual rather than an established monopoly (which offers little or no return on investment). For about the same cost of a telephone support request to microsoft you could have a consultant in the area come to your site, and perform close to three hours of setup, diagnosis, troubleshooting and/or repair.
Several studies have shown that Linux offers a better return on investment in the server room, and I'm sure they can be had for Linux on the desktop as well. A google search should pull them up easily. I also submit that running Linux requires less system administration than an equal number of machines running Microsoft Windows. Probably 3:1, meaning that a Linux administrator could support three times the number of machines than a similarly skilled Windows administrator. I work as an administrator in a mixed Windows/Linux environment, and that's my experience.
My question for you Mark, is why would anyone think of paying money for older software that won't be supported after the end of the year (and is questionably supported now) as opposed to getting newer, and in a lot of cases better quality, community supported software for only the cost of training or hiring someone to manage the system?
Joseph
Mark W4CHL wrote:
|Can anyone add more to these guys before they start down the
|Micro$oft route ?
|
|BTW - thank you VERY much for coming to the Cary Swapfest. We should get together with you guys and have a more fully loaded Ham workstation for support of digital modes, especially APRS and PSK31.
|
|My preference is Redhat, mainly because I'm more familiar with it , though I've toyed with Lindows (less impressed). What about a supplemental CD for Linux users to install support for modes above on a Linux PC or laptop. Your help and advice on what to put in that build would be appreciated.
|
|And I've got kids at Phillips MS working on Cybiko PDAs to support ham radio. The tools are available from Linux, have to admit haven't pursued them at this point, but the Window$ build tools are very Linux/Unix makefile oriented and lend themselves well to transition into a Linux environment.
|
|Cheers & 73s de Mark W4CHL
|
|--------------------forwarded note-------------------
|Dear Youth of Today,
|
|A couple of things, as mentioned earlier do you have any familiarity with
|Linux ?
|
|There are at least two versions (distributions) of Linux that are very
|well documented, easy to install, and have good support. Each includes Star
|Office as mentioned earlier and one needs only have one full version (or lots
|of patience in downloading and installing !) in order to be able to load
|all your donated machines with a very up to date, and Windows-like operating
|environment.
|
|If you are mainly going to offer:
|- Internet access
|- Interaction with PCs via web based programs and sites
|- web based e-mail
|- ability to download and print
|- and don't want to deal with as many of the virus and worm issues as
|Microsoft users do
|
|Then Linux may be for you. There are also wonderful regional Linux support
|groups that can help you with specific questions. The biggest in the area
|is the Triangle Linux group, see:
|http://www.trilug.org/
|
|Even though you can go the Microsoft route by possibly getting older
|licenses donated (that haven't been part of upgrades), I think you should
|contact Triangle Linux User's group (they have a mailing list from the web site
|before purusing "donations" of Microsoft software.
|
|Cheers de Mark Smith, W4CHL
|OC ARES liaison to PARC rtpnet.org/parc
|
|Mark R. Smith [EMAIL PROTECTED]
|Chapel Hill, NC http://www.qsl.net/w4chl
|_______________________________________________
|rtpnet-tact mailing list
|[EMAIL PROTECTED]
|http://www.rtpnet.org/mailman/listinfo/rtpnet-tact
|
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