Inquiry from the New Guy

[Justin Bennett]

Then what I would do is just to a base install, you need X windows, Not
KDE or Gnome, you can install the Classic Window managers. Set the machine
to boot into Run Level 3 (text only) then you can run an X server, window
manager, and client from /etc/rc.d/rc.local

this will give you a grey background with just the client, and the ability
to change the size of the window and close it. You might want to loop the
client so if it gets killed it gets respawned. I'll load up a box and see
If i can give you a config that worked for me.

Justin

Charles H. Root, III said:
> actually, no gnome menus is a better choice... ha ha
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-nflug at nflug.org [mailto:owner-nflug at nflug.org]On Behalf Of
> Justin Bennett
> Sent: Wednesday, March 19, 2003 9:14 PM
> To: nflug at nflug.org
> Subject: RE: Inquiry from the New Guy
>
>
> do you want them to have gnome running, the ability to use the menus and
> such, run other programs, or just that one program. You could just fire
> an X server and the client, nothing else, no taskbar, no menu. All they
> can do is use that client.
>
> Charles H. Root, III said:
>> Thanks everyone for the replies...
>>
>> To clarify, I don't really have it all figured out... ha ha.
>> I get it conceptually, but the devil is in the details. And yes, all
>> the PC's are identical, will be using DHCP and I'm going with RedHat 8
>> and GNOME.
>>
>> A KickStart install would be very cool philosophically, but a bit
>> messier with the post install scripts that I'm relatively
>> clueless about. If deadlines become an issue then I'll probably
>> just utilize Ghost.
>>
>> Regarding modifications to /etc/rc.d/rc.local file, I'm not sure what
>> to put in there to fire off the X server, window manager and Citrix
>> ICA Client, whose executable (by the way) resides at:
>> /usr/lib/ICAClient/wfica. The only un-commented line in there now is:
>> touch /var/lock/subsys/local
>>
>> So I'll research and tinker a bit but feel free to pass along a
>> sample config :). I've setup Linux and Solaris DNS, web & FTP servers
>> but I admit it, I'm no SysAdmin yet... Working on it though!
>>
>> I've been experimenting with unloading all the extra daemons &
>> services that wont be needed for a workstation such as this. I'm
>> trying to make it as lean as possible.
>>
>> Thanks again!
>>
>> Best,
>>
>> chaz
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: owner-nflug at nflug.org [mailto:owner-nflug at nflug.org]On Behalf Of
>> Justin Bennett
>> Sent: Wednesday, March 19, 2003 3:57 PM
>> To: nflug at nflug.org
>> Subject: Re: Inquiry from the New Guy
>>
>>
>> sounds like you have it all figued out but the network install
>> correct? You could also just start it in runlevel 3, and then in
>> /etc/rc.d/rc.local (kinda like autoexec.bat run an x server, window
>> manager, and your client). I can give you some help there.
>>
>> Redhat offers KickStart which you can initiate from a network boot
>> floppy.You can do a NFS or FTP or HTTP install off the network, and
>> run post install scripts to do your special stuff.  It sounds like all
>> the pc's are the same? They doing DHCP? if so you could do something
>> like a Symantic ghost to roll them out, load one up store the image
>> file on a network, create a msdos network boot floppy boot the PC and
>> run ghost off the network. We do this for our PCs but ghost will do
>> linux also. (this is not as cool as kickstart though, but it may be
>> tough to write all the scripts to do all the post install tasks you
>> want).
>>
>> Justin
>>
>> Charles H. Root, III said:
>>> Greetings All:
>>>
>>> I'm looking for some pointers regarding a Linux workstation rollout
>>> project I am working on. Here's the scoop:
>>>
>>> ASG has over 600 existing PC's running MS DOS 6.2, NIC & mouse
>>> drivers and the ICA Client for DOS. You power them up, autoexec.bat
>>> launches the ICA Client and you are presented with a Windows login
>>> screen. Simple configuration and a perfect end user experience for
>>> our
>>> environment. Over 90% of our staff gets their desktop environment
>>> from a Citrix server farm.
>>>
>>> However, I have another 100 or so used workstations we've purchased
>>> arriving soon. They are IBM 300GL PII 350's, 64 MB RAM, NIC and 4GB
>>> HDD. And (of course)
>>> no OS. Obviously, I don't want to spend over $20,000 in WinXP
>>> licenses just to
>>> dumb them down to MS-DOS.
>>>
>>> What I wish to accomplish is to build a Linux based PC that boots
>>> directly to
>>> X Windows and the ICA client (bypassing the Linux login) and present
>>> the end user with a Windows login prompt from our Citrix server farm,
>>> just like our existing DOS workstations.
>>>
>>> I've gotten some recommendations from Chad Robinson (A Linux Journal
>>> magazine
>>> contributing writer), an RHCE from UB and a few folks on the web. The
>>> flavor of
>>> these recommendations is:
>>>
>>> * Do a minimal RedHat 8 install.
>>>
>>> * Remove the getty statements in /etc/inittab to bypass the Linux
>>> login prompt.
>>>
>>> * Run the ICA Client as a shell in either run level 4 (Kiosk mode) or
>>>   run level 5 (X Windows).
>>>
>>> After I get a stable workstation config on one PC, the next step is
>>> to do network installs on the remaining units. They don't have CD-ROM
>>> drives.
>>>
>>> I've got management buy-in so I'm good there. I've already migrated
>>> our DNS, FTP and web server over to RedHat.
>>>
>>> Comments, tips, concerns? I'm admittedly a little inexperienced in a
>>> customized
>>> rollout like this. I'd love to hear your thoughts and see if anyone
>>> else locally
>>> is doing this sort of thing.
>>>
>>> Thanks for your time,
>>>
>>> Charles H. Root, III
>>> MIS Network Manager
>>>
>>> Account Solutions Group
>>> 205 Bryant Woods South
>>> Amherst, NY  14228-3608
>>>
>>> v: 716-564-4991
>>> f: 716-564-4440
>>>
>>> www.accountsolutionsgroup.com
>>
>>
>> --
>> -------------------------------------------
>> Justin Bennett
>> Red Hat (Linux) Certified Engineer
>> Network Administrator
>> Dynabrade Inc.
>> 8989 Sheridan Dr
>> Clarence, NY 14031
>> 716-631-0100 ext 215
>
>
> --
> -------------------------------------------
> Justin Bennett
> Red Hat (Linux) Certified Engineer
> Network Administrator
> Dynabrade Inc.
> 8989 Sheridan Dr
> Clarence, NY 14031
> 716-631-0100 ext 215


-- 
-------------------------------------------
Justin Bennett
Red Hat (Linux) Certified Engineer
Network Administrator
Dynabrade Inc.
8989 Sheridan Dr
Clarence, NY 14031
716-631-0100 ext 215