Inquiry from the New Guy

[Justin Bennett]

I can't find my 7.3 cds so I need to download them again, so might take me
until tommarow some time.

Justin

Justin Bennett said:
> 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


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