Craig White wrote:
> On Tue, 2005-03-01 at 16:59 -0700, Charlie Bullen wrote:
>
>>Hello All, I have gotten permission to do a demo for members of a class
>>on (hold your noses) Windows XP pro. I tend to talk linux up and some of
>>my classmates are interested.
>>
>>Here is the demo. Even though my laptop runs Redhat, I'm going to boot
>>it from a clusterKnoppix disk. I then have a bash script that is just a
>>buch of nested loops that run CPU usage up to 100% which I will run.
>>
>>Next I will launch openMosix and boot a couple of PCs over the network
>>from my laptop, running clusterKnoppix. I will boot them in text mode.
>>Next I will launch the bash script again, and via a nice openMosix
>>viewer, will show them how the load on the CPU is now balanced between
>>all 3 computers.
>>
>>Lastly, I will reconfigure openMosic to boot the PCs to a KDE desktop. I
>>will then let whoever wants to, play around with the KDE desktops while
>>I simultaneously again launch the bash script, balance the load amoung
>>the 3 boxes, showing how each computer can still be used as a desktop
>>with little or no degradation of performance.
>>
>>I have done all of this and it all works real well. The instructor is
>>99% sure that the classroom PC use PXE booting, but in case they don't,
>>I'm bringing a mini-itx box that I have already tried all this out on
>>just in case the classroom PCs don't want to play.
>>
>>I am also bringing my own router and cables just to be sure again.
>>
>>
>>On the one hand the demo seems a bit complex, but as I am bringing
>>enough of my own gear, which I have run the described demo on several
>>times before, to do everything, without having to use any of the
>>classroom gear, I'm very confident that all will go well.
>>
>>I can't wait to see what a bunch of windows people will think when shown
>>what a real OS can do.
>>
>>
>>I'll give a post demo report as well.
>
> ----
> seems a little geeky to me - especially for a class on Windows XP which
> makes me think that these aren't sophisticated computer users (or am I
> missing the point?) Load sharing among desktops isn't something I have
> ever tried or have wanted to ever try and it makes it seem irrelevant
> from the word go but perhaps I would think differently if I saw what you
> were doing.
>
> The thing that really strikes me is your attitude towards Windows
> (several references to your disdain and/or your expectations that we
> would disdain Windows). Computer are a tool for us to use. Whether the
> underlying OS is Linux or Windows or BSD or whatever, it's nothing more
> than a tool. I have seen people draw stuff with a text editor and a
> postscript printer that amazed me - they were knowledgeable about their
> 'tool' and the underlying OS had little to do with anything.
>
> I think that there are some things that are really impressive about
> Linux that seem so easy to overlook - but real Administrators can really
> appreciate them...
>
> - configuration files in plain text. Use any editor to fix the
> settings.
> Want to remove unneeded dictionaries from OpenOffice.org?
> emacs /usr/lib/openoffice/share/dict/ooo/dictionary.lst
> Want to change your dns server?
> emacs /etc/resolv.conf
> Want to provide granular control over who can access your files via
> samba?
> emacs /etc/hosts.allow /etc/hosts.deny
>
> - real logs / real time
> /var/log/take_your_pick
>
> - change runlevels, functionality, personality, no need to reboot
> telinit 3
> telinit 5
> emacs /etc/sysconfig/network #change hostname
> service network restart
> ifdown eth0
> ifup eth1
>
> - real time debugging...
> /usr/bin/mozilla # reports standard out/standard error to terminal
> - This is a real clincher - you actually can see
> - what is going wrong if/when something is going
> - wrong. Lots of times, it's hard to know what's
> - the problem on Windows because there's no log
>
> The last thing I would suggest is NOT to use KDE - it's too much like
> Windows and it inevitably brings up the comparisons. Different is
> better. You will be fielding comments/questions about why they will
> think that Windows is a better desktop system (and in many respects it
> is).
>
> Craig
>
Kind of OT but a couple of years ago I remember talk about disk sharing
in networks (my terms my be off) or sharing unused disk space.
The premise is that since the default hard drive is about 40Gig for a
desktop where an average of 20 Gig is used, there was some sharing tool
being developed to create a type of NAS based on the availability of the
drives.
Something like a pod of 5 computers would share the same data and that
data would show up as 20 Gig of storage on the network.
I don't remember the name of the project but I remember being 'wowed' by
the idea since some of the workstations equiped today have a default
160G hard drive and our server only has 120G.
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