Axel Dahmen wrote:
> Hi Folks,
>
> after googling around quite a bit I wasn't able to find a solution to
> my question, so I am asking the community for an advice / help:
>
> I am running a private network at home with a RH9 Router, RH9 Samba -
> / DNS - / and Mail server as well as a Solaris Sparc HTTP Server since
> some years now, but without a GUI but a command line login instead.
> At the moment I have connected 2 Notebooks and 4 Workstations, all
> with Windows XP Professional, (no local users except root, working
> with a Domain login at the samba server) and I am fed up with Updating
> / antivirussing etc. with the MS operating system.
> I thought of changing all the Workstations over to Unix and kicking
> out MS.
> The major software used on the Workstations is also available in the
> Unix World (Star Office, CD - Burning Software, Graphical Tools,
> Multimedia Software, Mailers etc.) and for the few programs which are
> not there is wine, which hopefully can handle the rest.
> I just installed a freshly formatted SCSI HD in one of the
> Workstations to test wether my idea would work out practically.
>
> First of all there is the Question of the operating system to use:
> Should I use Solaris 9 X86 or RedHat 9?
> The Operating Systems GUI should be easy to handle (for my wife an
> kids who are used to the MS Stuff).
> Surely this forum isn't the best to ask this question but possibly
> someone could give me some hints on that too.
>
> Then, the next and for me most important thing is:
> What do I have to do / what software do I need to have an equivalent
> to the MS Domain Logon?
> I want to (keep, as I have it now) 1 passwd with the actual users on
> my central RH9 Fileserver (Samba PDC), so that I doesn't have to
> bother with local logins on the Workstations.
>
> Does anybody has some advice for me?
>
> Axel Dahmen
I have a very similar setup working fine from a networking perspective.
Read up on Samba, that's what makes MS PC's work with Unix. For most
'real' work that people do, Linux apps are ok. OpenOffice replaces MS
Office quite well.
But what do you do when you need to run quicken (or quicktax) for
accounting? My wife's RealEstate MLS system only likes MSIE (although
you can fake it with some flavours of mozilla) My kids play games and
need shockwave plug-ins in the browser. They chat with MS and Yahoo
chat. They want to burn CD's (some people here think that a collection
of scripts to convert the mp3's and burn the CD is a usable solution for
non-technical people). Digital camera's, video camera's, and other
periphals like 'all in one' printers can cause problems. You will
probably spend alot more time as sysadmin trying to make their stuff
work, and hear endless whining 'why can't we use Windoze?'

I run my business with Linux, and do almost everything I *need* with
Linux (except quicken) and I never crash, never get silly popups,
spyware, virii, or ads for penis enlargement. For me that is worth much
more than being MS compatible, but don't assume everyone see's it that way.

Rob

PS. You can start weening them of MS by introducing them to OpenOffice.
I helped a non-technical employee put this on her home PC and she was
very glad that it saved her so much money, and likes it more than Word.
Evolution (email) is another step in the right direction.