[CVALE] My next big step with Linux...

[Craig Van Degrift]

Hello all,

I just signed up on your list even though I am in Raymond (outside of 
Chowchilla), having moved up from LA 6 years ago.  Please let me introduce 
myself.

I teach Algebra part-time in Madera CC, but still teach Linux at LACC 4 
quarters per year in blocks of 8 or 12 hours at their Community Services 
branch.  There, I use 14 old computers, a router, and a server to teach Linux 
in the following 4 sessions each quarter:

1: 8 hours on a Saturday to install Mandriva (maybe in the future Ubuntu), and 
mess around with the file system, learning about links, permissions, 
mounting, etc.  We use the freely distributable CDs and downloads for 
everything.

2: 8 hours on a Saturday understanding networking and compiling a custom 
kernel for the student machines.

3: 12 hours on a Friday evening and Saturday starting with a fresh install of 
Mandriva on a partition of the server and then step-by-step setting up its 
firewall with IP masquerading, dhcp, DNS (with a student computer being the 
secondary DNS server), SSH (with everyone messing with everyone else's 
machine), Apache, CUPS, Samba, Postfix, POP3, and IMAP (including 
encryption).  As usual in my classes, nearly everything is done using 
command-line instructions.

4: 8 hours on a Saturday quickly going through the setup necessary to run the 
sample Winestore program in the O'Reilly book "Web Database Applications with 
PHP and MySQL".  We install lots of packages, adjust some configuration 
files, and use command-line instructions to get acquainted with MySQL and 
PHP.

I am a hard core anti-Microsoft guy who went from UCSD Pascal, to C64, to IBM 
DOS to OS/2 and finally to Linux, completely avoiding Microsoft products.  As 
a result, I always depend on my students to handle the windows side of the 
Samba demo and am completely useless when Windows questions come up.

At home, I run Mandriva using it as a firewall, and router for my house 
computers.  My website is http://yosemitefoothills.com running over a slow 
SierraTel DSL connection.

Since December, I have been entertaining myself by interfacing my computer 
with electronic circuits using USB.  That activity, which includes 
monitoring "1-wire" thermometers and building a moderate speed oscilloscope, 
is described on the web site (a work-in-progress).

Unfortunately, I have not yet played with 64-bit computers and can't provide 
any help in that direction.  I personally find no need for a separate 
router/firewall.  Linux using iptables seems to do that just fine without any 
noticeable loss of performance.

When do you folks get together?

Craig Van Degrift

On Friday 04 May 2007 08:39, Landon Blake wrote:
> I talked my wife Monique into letting me buy a new computer for my Linux
> hobby. That's right, no more hand-me-down computers for the penguin!
> Woohoo!
>
>
>
> I've already got my new computer, which came has a dual core AMD 64-bit
> processor, but Windows Vista 32-bit installed. (Can someone explain the
> logic in that?)
>
>
>
> At any rate, I find myself in a dilemma, and I was hoping you guys can
> help me with the solution. The computer I'm running Linux on will now be
> as good or better than my wife's computer, which runs Microsoft Windows
> XP. That means I can start to use my Linux computer as my primary
> computer. However, Monique isn't the most technically gifted person, and
> I don't think she'll be quite ready to make the jump to Linux. I'd like
> to find a way to share a printer and DSL internet connection between my
> two computers. (I already now the printer will work well with Linux,
> because I checked that out before I made the purchase, hoping this day
> would come.) :]
>
>
>
> I think I can do this by setting up small "network" with the two
> computers. Is this within the realm of possibility if I'm not an IT
> professional? Will it be fairly easy to have my computers share the
> printer and DSL internet connection? Would I be able to use Samba or
> something similar to share the files on each computer? How hard would
> that be?
>
>
>
> Although I have a little programming experience and I have been using
> Linux for a year or two, I must admit I'm a total networking noob. I do
> have a couple of books that talk about networking on Linux.
>
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> Do you guys think this is over my head, or worth trying?
>
>
>
> Landon
>
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>
> P.S. - I'm giving my former Linux box to a seventh-grader, and hope to
> teach him to be a Debian Linux user. I'll need all the help I can get
> for that task!
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