Issue 6: Linux- The Promised Land or Land of the Lost?

Back in the old days [stooping, shaking and hiding teeth] Computers were big honking devices in the basement. The Inner workings of the idol were unknown except for the few MIS priests who were allowed direct contact, but by and large users either worked on dumb VDT's (If they were lucky) or worse, punchcard terminals. The OS was about as cryptic as the dead sea scrolls, so there was a profession to be made in what was called "Data Processing:" a dedicated job of just ensuring the stupid thing provides the information it was supposed to.

Then came the boys at Xerox PARC, who thought it would be pretty cool to make a computer that would work without a DP department to support it! Apple copied it, improved it, and the rest is history.

But there was a price to be paid. The old Iron, as cryptic, un-userfriendly, and expensive, was incredibly flexible multi user environment. By removing all the clunkyness out of it, some of its power was removed as well- not to mention the inherent inefficiencies of a good user interface (The most efficient user interface, in terms of CPU usage, is the ancient command line interface. No spare cpu cycles are spent driving the GUI) Today, therefore, we have two types of computer-

The user machine, running a modern, easy to use OS such as Macs or Windows (hold the catcalls, This isn't a Mac vs PC column!) Its fast, has cool user apps, and priced at the consumer.

The server- running a STILL archaic, overcomplicated, and expensive OS; but that's because it can drive transactions from Many clients safely, securely, and with minimal crashing. The only semblance of deviation is NT (Graphical VMS), which is inexpensive and graphical- But I wouldn't compare its power or stability against any Unix variant.

And then, in 1990, Linus Torvalds released his source code for a Unix clone he wrote to the world, turning everything upside down. Linux is an oddity. It is incredibly scalable, incredibly stable, incredibly powerful-- and an incredible pain in the ass to set up or use. If and when Linux matures into a turnkey solution, it has the potential to kill the server market as we know it. But today, it takes time, patience (LOTS of patience) and lots of research to successfully implement Linux. Doing so will enable you to join the elite club of the Linux user- Users that are as rabid in their evangelism of their platform choice as an Amiga or Mac user; maybe more so.

Linux was described to me by a reader as "The He Man's OS of choice." It runs on practically anything (There is actually an Alpha version that runs on a PalmPilot!!) It has enterprise Apps to compare to any server environment, and a TON of freeware available, some of which more powerful than commercial solutions available for other platforms!! It has built in connectivity that makes other server vendors turn green with envy- it can connect and serve a huge amount of existing client OS Base, from NetWare, to SMB (Microsoft Native) to AppleTalk-- you name it. It pretty much never crashes (ya, right :) and it can, out of the gate, offer a complete web server solution.

Over the next few weeks, it is my intention to provide Mac to Linux connectivity information, software and setup solutions available, and step by step set up a Linux server in my lab. I will, of course, write about my experiences and step by step instruction on how to set this box up CORRECTLY (which, undoubtedly, will come from my own screwups :) So bear with me folk, I'm about to become one of the initiated.

I welcome all questions and comments at akoyshman@jps.net or designamics@jps.net