Re: Cordially invited

BG,

Give me the low down on what printer you're using and what audio
devices, and I can make you a full time Linux user. 

--jeremy


On Wed, 2002-06-12 at 22:39, BG wrote:
> Hi All,
> 
> Having been cordially invited to this list by an unsolicited email... a
> welcome one, I decided to subscribe to see what gives here.  This could be a
> very productive list and just might be the place to speak off-topic.
> 
> I have been a RH LInux user of sorts (off and on) for about 5 years.  I was
> first attracted to Linux because it offered a solution to my home
> network/internet access needs.  Of course, along the way I had to play a bit
> with the OS, Samba and digital audio recording (my favorite hobby).  My home
> network server is dual-boot W2k and RH 7.3.  It would be running fulltime RH
> 7.3 except for the time and study required to set-up and utilize iptables or
> ipchains.  The push seems to be on for iptables which leads me to believe
> ipchains is inadequate.  I have no problem setting up Samba accross the
> entire network and administrating it, except, of course for the major
> printing problems.  I use the very powerful Samba GUI and it works
> flawlessly.  It seems my LaserJet 4 requires some special software to print.
> I have tried everything worthwhile and can't get it to work.  Of course,
> while running W2k it prints seamlessly, accurately and reliably for every
> user on the network and I didn't have to click once or type a single key to
> make it work.
> 
> I had high hopes that RH 7.3 would fix my printing and firewall issues, but
> I am am regretful to say nothing has changed.  Granted, if I were to
> dedicate hours or possibly days of frustrating configuration and reading of
> worthless HOW-TOs I MIGHT be able to get things to work, but I doubt it.
> 
> Why do I hang on?  Because I know there will eventually be a real solution
> for those that desperately want to migrate from anything Microsoft.  Why
> leave Microsoft if everything works so well, you ask?  Because Microsoft OS
> is a memory hungry, bloated pig and any real user knows there are band-aids
> on top of patches on top of service packs that barely hold it together.
> When I had RH 6.2 set-up and running Samba and IP masquerading it purred
> like a kitten and I never saw a crash, even when the HDD crashed.  I didn't
> even realize it had crashed until one day when I turned the server monitor
> on for some reason and discovered all the drive access errors.  Yet, it was
> still plugging away at all those internal network requests for internet
> access.  When a W2k HDD crashes you are lucky to be able to get the mouse to
> move or the keyboard to work in order to shut it down.
> 
> Just to demonstrate how desperate a user can be consider this.  My W2k
> server had been running unprotected except for virus scanning.  I had
> absolutely no firewall in place.  Scary thought, huh?  Well, today I
> installed Norton Internet Security.  In a matter of about an hour I had
> stepped through all the GUIs and customized my firewall.  I still don't know
> a damn thing about ports, protocols or anything else related to low-level
> network traffic.  The nice thing is that Symantec (Norton product
> manufacturer) has a secure web site that Norton Internet Security users can
> go to to have their system inspected, detected, reflected, and any other
> kind of probing and prodding to see how it fares against attack.  Yeah,
> yeah, they set it up and configured it to make their software look good?  I
> don't think so.  They are professionals and they make a great product with a
> GUI that even a dummy like me can use efficiently, productively and
> reliably.  Why isn't there something like this available from Red Hat?  I
> would pay for it.  I would pay considerably for it.
> 
> BTW - I have given up on digital audio recording with RH LInux.  I don't
> think I'll ever understand how to get the devices to work properly.
> 
> I'll hang on for now, but I am not sure how much longer I can wait.
> 
> Wanna be fulltime Linux user,
> Bill