[FADCA] RE: [Fpac] Re: Internet/FBB/LINUX/FPAC

[John D Young]

AMEN BROTHER!

I wish I could have said it as well as you did.
I support Linux and Microsoft at my work.  I find I spend much less time
futzing with Linux than with WinXX and Linux is less confusing that all
the changes that are made with each update from MS.

John
WA8KNE


On Fri, 1 Mar 2002 wchast@utilpart.com wrote:

> My View
> 
> Windows is like radio shack it is handy, but when you want to
> get down to real nitty gritty you need a lot more than radio
> shack.
> 
> Windows does not support AX.25 in the kernel, LINUX does.
> Windows does not support any of the common networking protocols
>   LINUX supports them all.
> Our network in this state is built on FPAC, we can migrate every
> DOS FPAC site to FPAC LINUX and gain the ability to use IP,NETROM and
> several other protocols in the deal. We can not do that with Windows.
> 
> How does WinLink support X.121 type routing? FBB and TNOS both support
> it, and if you are running them in a LINUX box you can actualy have
> a X.121 address for the device in question. That along with IP and the
> other protocols.
> 
> The limited support for IP does not bode well for many of the narrow
> band width links that we have throughout the state, it is better to
> segment it above the radio network level and hand off smaller packets
> to the RF network, and reconstruct the large IP packets on the far
> end, less over head over those narrow band links, this of course provided
> that your application supports use of the 'M' bit at the link level.
> 
> For LINUX there is source code for everything, so things can
> be fixed or modified if so needed.
> 
> Viruses are almost non-existant, so there is not the need to constantly
> patch and update protection, and hacking is made so much more difficult
> by the security built into LINUX since it is the same as that of a well
> built UNIX system.
> 
> Windows has only one window manager, WINDOWS, LINUX has a large number of
> them, the really simple ones are very good for this appllication, you do
> not want your emergency operators trying to access other things on the
> system
> so you can setup a window manager that only has those tools the user is
> supposed to have access to. That means you can have a screen that only has
> the icons needed to do the job.
> 
> It is good that we test and use the Windows product, but making it the
> only one just gets us into the mess that all the rest of the world is in,
> with M$. We have the tools in LINUX to do all of this too, and there is
> a lot of it being done, several of the LINUX list attest to this.
> 
> I am setting here in a server room at my place of work and see every day
> the issues of a "monoculture computer system". Problems that would have been
> fixed long ago continue to plague us because we are a "windows shop" believe
> me our management is looking at Linux real seriously in order to cut cost
> and reduce the impact of virus/hacker type problems. The first things to go
> will be the servers, and firewall, then we will start looking at the desktop
> and laptop areas. Some of these will remain Windows but we are seriously
> looking at what can be moved to Linux in order to reduce cost.
> 
> My best comparison of Windows is to a car with the hood welded shut, Linux
> is open and all documented so you can follow things as they happen, to a
> much greater depth, logging is excellent whereas in windows it is almost
> non-existant, that I saw here the other day very clearly while our guys who
> were trying to fix a machine looked at logs and could find nothing as it did
> not log a thing. They ended up calling M$ with a credit card in hand to get
> it fixed.
> 
> If you want a totally Outlook type of operation you can use Evolution under
> LINUX and get all of the same sort of services that you get with Outlook
> without the MS virus issues associated with Outlook. Evolution talks to the
> mail service through the IP stack which handles the AX.25 issues also,
> including
> which every protocol is common to your area.
> 
> One other comment, a lot of those last miles may not be 802.11 links so you
> need to keep that in mind at all times, and even when they are you need a
> fall back. That 802.11 link may not be there after a disaster particularly
> the type we are most associated with, wind has a nasty way of re-aiming
> parabolas for you.
> 
> Just my $0.02 worth.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: bud Thompson [mailto:budt@cfl.rr.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2002 08:03 PM
> To: Bill Guthrie; Jimmy Morrell; paul@vns.net; Larry W Weaver;
> wa8kne@arrl.net; fadca@mailman.qth.net; Russell Oder N4KOX
> Cc: fpac@mailman.qth.net; Rick KN6KB; ke6RK@winlink.org;
> W5ZIT@winlink.org
> Subject: [Fpac] Re: Internet/FBB/LINUX/FPAC
> 
> 
> Deltona, FL
> Tuesday Feb 26 1800EST
> 
> I've waited for a while to respond ....
> ---------------------------------------------SNIP------------------
> 
> 
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