I am a teacher at a k-12 school in Winnipeg, Manitoba. I also run/administer the computer lab and network. At the time I got the job I was not only a certified teacher but also a Certified Netware Engineer. They had a novell network but very old version. Over the years I became dissatisfied with Novell(ever since version 4 they have gone nuts) and I switched the lab over to using Red Hat 7.1 for the server. We still have Windows workstations, and they all connect to the server through SAMBA. Red Hat is coming to the end of its supported life and I am looking at SUSE for the server now. I know SUSE can do everything Red Hat could, as far as the server goes. I am thinking of taking the plunge and switching all workstations to SUSE, or some flavour of Linux, for the purpose of getting away from all the Windows OS grief, security holes, virus vulnerabilities, etc. My questions are: Has anyone done something like this? If so, how did it go? Did it make life that much easier? There are a few critical courses we offer that we cannot abandon if we do switch over. I have surfed the net and discovered that we could go with SUSE workstations and still teach Java Programming, but can we also get Visual Basic to work on a workstation loaded with SUSE? We also spent a great deal of money, for a school, and got some fantastic textbooks for Microsoft Office XP courses. Can I somehow still run Office XP on SUSE? I have heard that there is a program that allows for the running of Windows programs on Linux.. Would that work? I am assuming that I won't need to runn Samba if I am in a total linux environment (server and workstations) I assume that all I need is to run NIS server and clients. Is that correct? Finally, from the SUSE website I see that SUSE Professional can run server software. I am assuming that I can buy one copy of Professional, use it to load the server and use it to load workstations as well. Is it legal to do so or do I have to buy one copy for each machine? Can I download an ISO? I don't think it is free but I don't know enough. This is a very long-winded post, but I appreciate any help/advice/responses I can get. Thank you in advance -- -- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 7.0.230 / Virus Database: 262.6.1 - Release Date: 3/25/2004
On Friday 26 March 2004 06:04, Liam Marshall wrote:
There are a few critical courses we offer that we cannot abandon if we do switch over. I have surfed the net and discovered that we could go with SUSE workstations and still teach Java Programming, but can we also get Visual Basic to work on a workstation loaded with SUSE?
Probably not, there are a few projects to port VB to linux but it seems they're not very complete. There are other RAD languages you could teach instead though, such as Python, that are cross platform and not tied to a single vendor. As a school you shouldn't be so tied to a single commercial company anyway. You should be teaching people the common basic foundations that they can then use on any platform and in any language
We also spent a great deal of money, for a school, and got some fantastic textbooks for Microsoft Office XP courses. Can I somehow still run Office XP on SUSE? I have heard that there is a program that allows for the running of Windows programs on Linux.. Would that work?
Yes, there is http://codeweavers.com. It works pretty well.
I am assuming that I won't need to runn Samba if I am in a total linux environment (server and workstations) I assume that all I need is to run NIS server and clients. Is that correct?
NIS is an LDAP like directory service. If authentication is what you want then you are correct. If you want file sharing though you want to use NFS (Network File System)
Finally, from the SUSE website I see that SUSE Professional can run server software. I am assuming that I can buy one copy of Professional, use it to load the server and use it to load workstations as well.
Yes, that is correct
Is it legal to do so or do I have to buy one copy for each machine?
No, it's legal
Can I download an ISO? I don't think it is free but I don't know enough.
Not an ISO, but the installation files are available on ftp.suse.com and its mirrors (prefer a mirror, suse.com gets very bogged down.) http://www.suse.de/en/private/download/suse_linux/index.html
Anders Johansson wrote:
On Friday 26 March 2004 06:04, Liam Marshall wrote:
There are a few critical courses we offer that we cannot abandon if we do switch over. I have surfed the net and discovered that we could go with SUSE workstations and still teach Java Programming, but can we also get Visual Basic to work on a workstation loaded with SUSE?
Probably not, there are a few projects to port VB to linux but it seems they're not very complete.
There are other RAD languages you could teach instead though, such as Python, that are cross platform and not tied to a single vendor. As a school you shouldn't be so tied to a single commercial company anyway. You should be teaching people the common basic foundations that they can then use on any platform and in any language
We also spent a great deal of money, for a school, and got some fantastic textbooks for Microsoft Office XP courses. Can I somehow still run Office XP on SUSE? I have heard that there is a program that allows for the running of Windows programs on Linux.. Would that work?
Yes, there is http://codeweavers.com. It works pretty well.
I am assuming that I won't need to runn Samba if I am in a total linux environment (server and workstations) I assume that all I need is to run NIS server and clients. Is that correct?
NIS is an LDAP like directory service. If authentication is what you want then you are correct. If you want file sharing though you want to use NFS (Network File System)
Finally, from the SUSE website I see that SUSE Professional can run server software. I am assuming that I can buy one copy of Professional, use it to load the server and use it to load workstations as well.
Yes, that is correct
Is it legal to do so or do I have to buy one copy for each machine?
No, it's legal
Can I download an ISO? I don't think it is free but I don't know enough.
Not an ISO, but the installation files are available on ftp.suse.com and its mirrors (prefer a mirror, suse.com gets very bogged down.)
http://www.suse.de/en/private/download/suse_linux/index.html
You can download boot.iso and burn it on to a CD, then do an ftp installation, the details are on the SuSE site. Regards Sid. -- Sid Boyce .... Hamradio G3VBV and keen Flyer Linux Only Shop.
Hi, Anders already answered most of the questions, I just have one or two things to add.
am looking at SUSE for the server now. I know SUSE can do everything Red Hat could, as far as the server goes. Stock standard out of the box I would dare say SUSE can do more. It's good for desktop too :-)
I am thinking of taking the plunge and switching all workstations to SUSE, or some flavour of Linux, for the purpose of getting away from all the Windows OS grief, security holes, virus vulnerabilities, etc.
I wouldn't do it all at once, especially if you have windows stuff to run. OfficeXP can be runn through Crossover Office (www.codeweavers.com) and I know some versions of Visual Basic do too, not sure about the most recent versions though. What I would do is put SUSE on the server and get that sorted out. SUSE 9.0 Professional would be all you need. Then put SUSE 9.0 Pro on one of the desktops and experiment. Once you get everything going the way you want it, it would be easy to copy the relevant configs to all the machines (or even clone the drives, if the machines are identical.
Has anyone done something like this? If so, how did it go? Did it make life that much easier? Wish I could do it at some of our clients... :-)
Finally, from the SUSE website I see that SUSE Professional can run server software. We have a server at one of our clients that runs a samba domain controller, file server, mail with postfix, courier, spamassassin, web server, BitDefender antivirus, and some other minor things from time to time, on SuSE 8.0 Pro. It's been up since SuSE 8.0 came out has survived power outages almost daily since then. It's still running as reliably as day one.
Just my personal opinion, SUSE Pro is a lot more robust and stable than Red Hat for the servers I've had to maintain. Various people's mileage may vary, of course. Hope this helps -- Kind regards Hans du Plooy Newington Consulting Services hansdp at newingtoncs dot co dot za
In a previous message, Liam Marshall
Can I somehow still run Office XP on SUSE? I have heard that there is a program that allows for the running of Windows programs on Linux.. Would that work?
Yes - CrossoverOffice is a tweaked wine build available from Codeweavers (http://www.codeweavers.com/) and it runs MS Office extremely well. I use it all day, every day for my work on Office2000 with no problems and OfficeXP is fully supported as well. The only downside is that it's not as fast as running it under Windows but for most purposes this won't be a problem I'd have thought.
I am assuming that I won't need to runn Samba if I am in a total linux environment (server and workstations) I assume that all I need is to run NIS server and clients. Is that correct?
NIS, Samba, whatever you like.
I am assuming that I can buy one copy of Professional, use it to load the server and use it to load workstations as well. Is it legal to do so
Legal, proper and encouraged. However, the support would only apply to the first machine AIUI - but give that this would be the server, that's hardly a problem :-) HTH John -- John Pettigrew Headstrong Games john@headstrong-games.co.uk Fun : Strategy : Price http://www.headstrong-games.co.uk/ Board games that won't break the bank Valley of the Kings: ransack an ancient Egyptian tomb but beware of mummies!
participants (5)
-
Anders Johansson -
Hans du Plooy -
John Pettigrew -
Liam Marshall -
Sid Boyce