Re: tlug: diald (was: mouse fixed; now what about email)

[Manuel Chakravarty <chak@example.com>]

"Stephen J. Turnbull" <turnbull@example.com> wrote,

> >>>>> "jb" == Jonathan Byrne <jpmag@example.com> writes:
> 
>     jb> -----Original Message----- From: Karl-Max Wagner
>     jb> <karlmax@example.com>
> 
>     >> that Linux is a helluva lot more sophisticated than anything M$
>     >> churns out. Like a Jeep compared with space shuttle.
>     >> Astonished that it is easier to operate a Jeep than a space
>     >> shuttle ?
> 
>     jb> In some areas that is certainly true, but not all areas.
>     jb> Don't get me started about the primitive, mainframe-era
>     jb> printing system that gives you practically no control over
>     jb> your printer.
[...]
>     jb> Unix printing system allow for setting your paper
>     jb> size in the
>
> Bzzt.  If the application is properly designed, there are Postscript
> conventions for doing this.

About half of the PostScript files that I get from Windoze
users have the paper size set such that I cannot print it on 
any of our three printers.  I *never* had this problem with
PostScript files from Unix users.  So, I hope that this
`feature' will be absent from Unix systems for a long time
to come.

>     >> Neither Mac OS nor Windows have been *designed* with networking
>     >> in mind. Linux has.
> 
>     jb> Linux is designed with networking through an Ethernet card in
>     jb> mind, not dial-up stuff.  The configuration software for
>     jb> dial-up networking could be better on Windows 95, and on the
>     jb> Mac front Open Transport PPP is just awful (best thing to do
>     jb> with it is rip it out and use FreePPP 2.6 instead), but they
>     jb> are a lot easier to set up than what usually ships with Linux.

Did you ever have a NotePC (or any other computer) that you
used in two different networks getting two different IP
addresses?  (For example, for dialing in from home, working
in your office, or working in your laboratory, you might
need three different network configurations.)

Using Windoze, after you went to another working place, you
boot the machine, type in the new network address,
and...boot again (because the OS cannot change IP addresses
on the fly).  Do this twice a day and you'll love Bill.  On
Linux, the `cardctl' command of the PCMCIA package let's you
define different schemes for different network
configurations and *of course* you can change them without
booting.  (I heared that NT also has to reboot.  Is that
true?) 

And don't tell me about DHCP now...did you know that the
more sophisticated Apple LaserWriters use BOOTP/DHCP, grap
your IP address from the DHCP server, and never give it
back?  Somebody asked me to set up dhcpd on my Linux
machine, so that he can you use DHCP for his Windoze NotePC
(he also wasn't very fond of booting).  We still don't know
where in this 13 floor building the LaserWriter stands that
got his address and kept it.  These machines try to be
overly clever and, in addition to the IP address that you
configure into them for printing, grab another one for
maintenance or so.

Windoze may be plug-and-play for your kids at home with one
PPP dialup connection and your private printer, but for
anything more than a toy network it seems to be a joke...
and for anything more than a toy network you'll anyway need
an expert at least for setting up and maintaining the
network infrastructure -- that is were I agree with
Karl-Max.

Manuel
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