On Thursday 27 January 2005 04:27, Paul Smith wrote: > In truth, my post was motivated by the fact that I would like to > convince the system administrator at my work that there is no > significant reason to not connect Linux computers to the MS Windows > network. He said that he has heard some people claiming that samba has > some problems with achieving the goal of having Linux computers > running inside a MS Windows network.
Probably has heard that. I hear it is a popular topic of conversation in the reeducation camp, I mean MS Developer Network. Well, let me run down the realities of this battle with you (Having been there done that and survived the glazed look of MS's stalwart evangelicals). On the one hand, you have a competent System Administrator (Windows or not) in which case, he is aware of alternate operating systems, he is certainly aware that Linux has fewer security issues and problems, and he either knows enough to help and support you, or he knows enough to tell you that you are totally on your own, won't oppose you and will thank his lucky stars that he has one less goofball to support. However, best guess is that if you had a Windows Admin like that, he is probably already running a few Linux boxen himself and would probably have been really happy to see another lonely face added to the club, share war stories and revel in liberation. On the other hand, you are stuck with a full fledged graduate of the MS school of FUD, with MSCE and assorted other letters attached to his name, in which case, he couldn't find a power supply if his gonads were grounded to it, and he won't believe anything that you say anyway (cause it doesn't come straight from the mouth of Pope Gates or Cardinal Ballmer), in which case, there is pretty much nothing that you can do to convince him to even tolerate, much less help you put an alternate OS on his virused, wormed, swampy network. After all, if he let you do it, the other peons might get uppity and want to do it too and then next thing you know, he would have to learn something that doesn't involve dragging and clicking a mouse. You have my sympathies. Getting serious, the fact is, if you know what you are doing, you can put a Linux machine on a Windows network, regardless of what kind of MS crud they have put in place to stop you, without any problems. Granted, you won't be able to attach to a Windows domain unless the admin adds you to the network, but connectivity with Windows virus factories is very overrated. Between email and the Internet, there should be relatively no reason to connect directly to a windows machine or drive. And, if you really have to, you can always dual boot, copy the files you need to the Win partition and then switch back and move them over to Linux. Granted, waiting the eternity it takes for Win2k and such to boot up and shut down is a hassle, but I like to tell myself that it is good to have a semi-regular reminder of why I love Linux. I almost guarantee that you can access network printers because in most companies, those will be attached via direct connect on an ethernet card in the printer, not running through a windows print server. On those, you simply need to figure out what the IP address is, and then you are in business. You don't call them for support, with problems, or ask them for any help and you will slip right under the zombie glaze of the MS undead. Install a firewall and lock the ports down and Chuckles the MS Monkey won't even be able to tell what OS you are running when you connect to the net. Assuming that he is smart enough to figure that out without a blaring MS provided "Alternate OS Detected" siren wailing to clue him in. I got away with it for 9 months straight until they noticed that I wasn't downloading my windows defects, I mean updates, and sent someone around to check on it. Luckily for me, the screensaver was up and I use a generic one so Goober didn't even know what OS I was running. I booted back over to Windows, let it update and then switched right back to Linux. After that, I told them that I had installed VMWare (for Testing purposes) and that it just looked like I had Linux installed. With the McDonald's rejects that get hired for tech support these days, I am not too concerned that I am going to get outsmarted or called on it. If you don't have the drive space, get Mandrake Move (Live CD) or one of the other varieties, put your config files on a small folder set aside for the purpose and boot directly from the CD. If someone happens to come by, simply pull the plug, and complain that this is the 20th time today that Windows has crashed on your computer and I guarantee you won't see a tech around for another month. Either way, where there is a will, there is certainly a way. Just make sure that when everyone else's machine gets taken down by the latest worm or virus, that you don't keep working too hard and be sure to complain along with the rest of the sheep. Remember the old Japanese saying: The nail that sticks out, gets pounded down. -- Bryan Phinney
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