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- To: tlug@example.com
- Subject: tlug: X log files
- From: Frank Bennett <bennett@example.com>
- Date: Mon, 25 May 1998 11:09:49 +0900 (JST)
- Cc: bennett@example.com (Frank Bennett)
- Content-Type: text
- Reply-To: tlug@example.com
- Sender: owner-tlug@example.com
Following the principle that any project that interferes with my lunch hour deserves a name, I'm dubbing the netbootable Xterm configuration I'm working on as the "Nagoterm". After succeeding this weekend to boot through the network cards used in the faculty here, I've been able to begin the process of configuring X displays and tangling with various problems of network architecture and user interface. I will be travelling to London for a month later this week; I should have something set up to stick in the archive by mid-Summer. Meanwhile, the monniker will save me the effort of typing this sort of stuff to the list in future: "Nagoterm is a pre-packaged Linux filesystem and kernel image that can be loaded to workstations across a network. Out of the box, it provides only a Web browser and IMAP or POP3 mail access, with provision for display and input of Japanese text as well as English. Supplemented by a Japanese Applixware installation, it can be used to provide a consistent, user-friendly and robust bilingual workstation configuration to all terminals in an institution. "I put this package together for use in the Faculty of Law at Nagoya University, as a means of reducing the amount of time spent installing and maintaining Microsoft (TM) operating systems on open access machines. In an educational institution, the bulk of student computing needs can be satisfied by supplying a few basic facilities in high volume. Because a screen/keyboard setup is by nature a single-user interface, the bottom line is that, whatever they happen to be wired into, you need lots of these items scattered around to keep things moving forward. And the key to supplying lots of units of something is to reduce the marginal cost of supplying _additional_ units. "Think back to the old days (or dig out those old manuals your father passed on to you). Remember the VT100? The beauty of the VT100 is the beauty of DOS; if it is kicked off in the middle of a session, the chances are pretty good that the filesystem will survive the shock, and be intact when the system is accessed on the next occasion. "This is the kind of bombproof hardiness that is required in providing student computing services. Unfortunately, the current OS of choice for open-access provision in Japan (Microsoft Windows of one stripe or another) is not terminal software in this old-fashioned sense. A PC running Windows is a workstation; it combines a smooth user interface with a system architecture that cannot tolerate mid-session shutdown. In short, these systems are fragile, and by nature ill-suited to mass provision. "Linux by itself is similarly intolerant of mid-session shutdown. But unlike Windows, it _can_ provide a solution to this problem because it can be provided to workstations across a network, from a central server. If the root filesystem of these terminals is also mounted across the network, the system administrator can control access to critical parts of the filesystem, minimizing the possibility of downtime caused by incidental damage of the kind referred to above. "Configuring one such terminal is more time-consuming than setting up a Microsoft workstation. However, the _marginal_ _cost_ of cloning the system to additional terminals is miniscule. Add to this the downtime and maintenance time saved due to the greater robustness of the Xterm architecture, and you have a solution that should be popular with students and staff alike. "Because the Nagoterm boots without reference to the locally installed OS, it is not necessary to lobby for the displacement of other systems before it is introduced; it can be offered as an additional option, which will prove popular only if it does, in fact, outperform the alternatives. "The Nagoterm archive, which is provided for free and without support, is available at <TLUG archive address will go here>." Cheers, Frank B -------------------------------------------------------------- Next TLUG Meeting: 13 June Sat, Tokyo Station Yaesu gate 12:30 Featuring Stone and Turnbull on .rpm and .deb packages Next Nomikai: (?) July, 19:30 Tengu TokyoEkiMae 03-3275-3691 -------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsor: PHT, makers of TurboLinux http://www.pht.co.jp
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