(LinuxWorld) -- Linux doesn't exist in a vacuum. The PC industry remains
driven by Microsoft and the ever-upward hardware requirements of each
successive transmogrification of Windows.
Linux distribution developers recognize this and expend great effort
attempting to ensure each new release of their product installs and
configures more easily than previous versions -- on well-equipped, late-model
PCs.
That's a good thing, but as a result recent Linux converts have never
installed Linux on the sort of minimal hardware that makes Linux
server-centrism so cost effective: Aged 486s and first-generation Pentiums
with little RAM and no CD-ROM drive.
In Part 4, we ripped into the nuts and bolts of post-installation Linux PC X
terminal configuration. For those whose powerful network still lies dormant
for lack of an installed operating system on the desktop machines, we tu... (more)
(LinuxWorld) -- I compared network and system administration to cooking in
Part 6, "How to install Red Hat over a network" and, in this installment,
individual Debian X terminals are on the menu. First, let's tidy the kitchen
and clean the stovetop -- because some more readers have reported that their
Red Hat preparations boiled over! (All right, I promise -- no more kitchen
references. For a while. Maybe.)
The department of "Not quite errata and not quite Murphy's Law"
Several readers reported their X terminal machines will boot to a gray screen
and nothing else -- the GUI log... (more)
(LinuxWorld) -- Before we continue and begin the integration of mail and
QuickPage on our Text Messaging Gateway, there are a couple of items that
need to be addressed.
The first comes under the general heading of "Errata." It is no show stopper,
but in Part 10 of this series, I told you that Debian's Apt utility helps
ensure that you get the benefit of their latest security enhancements. Then,
I immediately proceeded to leave out an essential line in
/etc/apt/sources.list! Okay, I'm an idiot!
Let's take care of this right now. Change to the /etc/apt directory, and with
a text ... (more)
(LinuxWorld) -- If you're just joining us in this series, I suggest reviewing
part 1, part 2, and part 3.
Before we can install Linux on our users' PCs, we must select an appropriate
Linux distribution. Back in part 3, we configured an application server, and
I made no recommendation about which distribution you should use. I provided
general guidelines for configuration of different initialization systems and
some of the distributions that use them.
You may be tempted to use the same Linux distribution for the PC X terminals.
Don't. At least, not until you read this installment.... (more)
(LinuxWorld) -- It is tempting to draw an analogy between cooking and network
administration. Slapping together pre-packaged convenience food may be easier
than preparing a meal from scratch using fresh ingredients, but it isn't
easier to eat, it actually costs far more and isn't as healthy over the long
run.
Likewise, it might be easy for an administrator to set up a network using the
pre-packaged convenience food from Microsoft that lines the shelves of
software retailers. It is expensive, however, and saps resources while the
lack of essential elements lowers your company's r... (more)
When not buried under his real job in commercial two-way radio system design and sales, Colin Mattoon is a part-time Linux system administrator at Northwest Communications in Lewiston, ID.
Scott Sellers
Anthony Franco
Daniel Morris
Wayne Walls
Niki Acosta
Jereme Hancock
Oren Michels
Marvin Wheeler
Douglas Kim
Ken Guiberson
