[ale] upgrade

[Steven Rice]

Steven Rice destroyed this email like this:

Frank Zamenski wrote:

> I'm somewhat in the same situation at work. I've a Dell PII-300 WinNT box
> with a CD-ROM, and a 'generic' P-166 dual boot Win-95/Caldera OpenLinux 1.3
> box (yeah, high time to upgrade it, which is why I'm posting). Anyway, since
> I've now moved away from PC desktop spt to becoming a newbie UNIX admin
> within the company, desktop tech spt (my former peers and still good pals!)
> said I could 'keep' the 2nd 'illegal' box with Linux, given I'm also in
> training, but they wanted the CDROM back, the dirty ratz! :-)  I've
> NetManage Chameleon97 on the NT machine, which also supports NFS. I've


NFS is so slow.  Use ftp.  If you are on a lan, there is no real need
for a cd-rom in UNIX.  I have setup many Linux boxes without even using
a cd.  Let them keep their cd-rom and show them that you don't need it. 
Also there is no need for monitors, keyboards, or mice (VNC and ssh are
wonders) with UNIX unless you are making changes to the bios or have it
setup where only access can be from the local console (Like my
firewall).


> successfully set that up and test-mounted an OpenLinux 2.3 CD on the WinNT
> box with the Caldera box, but, I've stopped short of attempting an upgrade
> because if it failed, I supposed it could hose my painfully crafted LAN and
> inet connections, Nutscrape email setup, XF86configs etc etc. (Yeah, could
> back them up, but....). 


But what?  /home and /etc can easily be transferred from one box to
another without a problem.  Parts of my /home dates back to when I was
running RedHat 5.2 in mid 1998.   The is no need to "trash" your current
setup any ways.  You can upgrade the packages and keep the config files
and you don't even have to reboot unless you changed the kernel.  I'm
running SuSE 6.2 and about to upgrade packages to 6.3 levels.  I have
friends that are still running what was RedHat 4.2 that are up to date.


> I tried using Caldera's boot disk, and I rawrited a
> modules disk also from the 2.3 CDROM hoping there'd be spt for NFS install
> on it too. And there seems to be, as the boot disk starts Caldera's
> notoriously easy install routine, but then gets to showing the modules
> 'loading' part, whereupon everything then quits without a prompt to put in
> the *&^%# modules disk. Suggestions? TIA.


Insert the mod disk you made?


> And why does a 'budding' UNIX guru use NT at all? Cuz at our corp, the apps
> we have under 95 fatal out too often for my tastes, so running that stuff
> under NT has spared me a lot of the grief of others in our company. Funny
> thing is, all I really much use it for is Groupwise Email and Chameleon's
> xterms into the UNIX machines, and for our Perigrine Service Center problem
> and pcr tracking.


Best way to learn UNIX is to use nothing but UNIX.  It forces you to
learn it.  Also  don't use "tools", write and use scripts.  You will
learn a lot more a lot faster.

 
> And finally, for benefit of and encouragement to the students on this list:
> I knew very little about Solaris and AIX (we use both) when I applied for
> this position. But the fact that I'd been here for two yrs and built up a
> rep as a reliable and competent contract desktop spt tech, and got to know
> the corps apps reasonabley well, along with getting to know many of the corp
> customers from my numerous PC troubleshooting visits with them, and, VERY
> importantly, could TALK with people of various corp positions and technical
> levels at THEIR levels -- coupled with the fact that I'd played on and off
> with **Linux** for several yrs now! -- sold them on giving me a shot at an
> open UNIX admin position. They figured I had the interest, staying power,
> (And I'm also a 40-something
> 'ex'-petroleum geologist, and this is major vocation switch #2 for me. Pay
> is good, and the work has been *very* cool so far!) Not preaching, not
> blowing my horn, I just want to stress the importance of people skills as
> well as technical skills in a career. Technical stuff obviously changes
> quickly. People, strangely enough, don't, and stranger still, tend to have
> longer memories than computers! <G>


Being 21, I'm learning how important "people skills" are with this
current job offer supporting 2000 users in NJ at AT&T.  The lady working
with me is one of the most caring people I have ever met and because I
react to how people are I have realized that the way I have reacted to
her is what going to get me the job.  She wants me to work for AT&T for
the same reason as your company.  Now my skills and who I am helps, but
it's really about how much respect I have given her.

 
> BTW, the current Caldera box, even with various incarnations of Xwin and
> apps running, subjectively seems to keep up with the faster NT box (wow,
> surprise...).


Not really, NT memory management blow goats.


> Oops. Sorry for the long post. I really started out just needing some
> assist!
> Frank

no worries