Thanks Steve
I have joined the extensive list of people you have generously shared your
knowledge with.
I was aware of the Mandrake 486 issue and am planning to use RH 5.2 or 6.0.
Another question - if I have a 486 machine with compatible soundcard, can a
programme running on the server feed its audio output to the 486 client?
Aaron
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Steve Philp [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Monday, September 13, 1999 12:27 PM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: [newbie] Server & 'dumb' clients
>
> Aaron deRozario wrote:
> >
> > Thank you all for your advice - I am looking at MuLinux and VNC at the
> > moment. In my current setup I have a 1gig hard drive that currently
> holds
> > an unused Win95. I am thinking of getting rid of this and using it for
> > Linux instead. I am thinking of perhaps installing this drive on one of
> the
> > 486's.
>
> Please remember that Mandrake doesn't run on 486's. Just a warning so
> you're not frustrated when you can't get it to work!
>
> > There is one aspect that I am not sure I completely understand - the
> > question is probably more academic than anything else - but I'm always
> eager
> > to learn more. Can X-windows be used to display information from a
> > programme that is being run on a remote machine? Could the 486, using
> X,
> > just display the graphical information of Applix, being run on the
> server?
> > >From the responses I am presuming the answer is yes. Is this so?
> (sorry I
> > am a newbie)
>
> Yes, of course. I previously owned an old Sun 3/50 machine. Not much
> was ever going to run very well on that machine, so I used it just as a
> display for applications that ran on my more powerful Linux machine.
> All in all, it was a nice setup until the 19" monitor blew up like the
> 4th of July!
>
> > The potential practical application is the GF and I are forever wanting
> to
> > type letters/assignments/etc at the same time - the old 486 could then
> be
> > useful.
> >
> > We can play networked games of Civ - CTP (this is her idea - she
> believes
> > she can kick my arse) - the old 486 could then be fun.
> >
> > Does the same server/client principal work for SVGAlib (maybe leading to
> > networked Quake sessions one day in the future)?
>
> That's a completely different thing at that point. You run a quake
> server on the Linux machine, then connect to it with Quake clients. The
> SVGAlib version on the 486 and the X version on the larger machine.
>
> > If I can use the 486 to run remote applications would I need to use a
> 100Mbs
> > network or will 10 suffice?
>
> The only thing that will be coming over the network is just display
> information. You should be fine with 10.
>
> > When operating like this does the filesystem on the client machine (486)
> use
> > symlinks to the directories on the server (with the exception of
> essential
> > local files I assume) - eg does /opt become a symlink to {ip address of
> > server}/opt
>
> They're completely separate typically. The 486 has it's own
> installation of software separate from the bigger machine.
>
> You CAN, however, link them together. Say you get ready to install
> Linux on that 486, but realize that it just doesn't have the HD space
> that you'd like. Well, you can share applications between the two, so
> mount the big machine's /usr directory onto the 486's filesystem.
>
> > I have not discounted using MuLinux or VNC - just trying to learn a bit
> > more. I also realise that it might be cheaper to buy a new MB for the
> 486
> > cases and be able to run everything locally, however part of the
> excercise
> > is to set up a LAN.
>
> And what better way to realize all of the completely cool things you can
> do with Unix that just aren't possible under Windows! You can't
> typically run your application on one machine and display it on another
> under Windows, you can't run diskless clients easily under Windows, but
> you can under Linux.
>
> There's a really big competitive advantage to running operating systems
> that allow you to tailor your setup to your available resources. Want
> to run Netscape on the 486, but there's not enough memory? Use the
> server to run it and leave the 486 dedicated to displaying the output.
> It'll be plenty fast at that. People are fighting tooth and nail about
> thin-clients and this and that, but it all comes back to the fact that
> they're talking about technology that the Unix world has had available
> for 20 years! Those thin-clients are X terminals in disguise!
>
> --
> Steve Philp
> Network Administrator
> Advance Packaging Corporation
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
