[wplug] Linux Client Image Advice

[Vanco, Don]

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wplug-bounces+don.vanco=agilysys.com at wplug.org wrote:
> Hi, i am an intern this summer at a company  in Huntingdon
> Pa, and i am working with linux. I have to work with old
> pc's, that are still usuable just old, so we are putting
> linux on them, most likely redhat enterprise ES. My job is to find
> the best: 
ES is a waste for what you describe below, possibly problematic due to
minimum memory requirements (although I run AS on a 128MB system).
Consider WS, or even better Professional Workstation.  All ES buys you
is the ability to run "servers" (mail, web, FTP, etc)

> email client (one like outlook, only for linux) be configured
> to accept network Ips
http://apache.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/05/11/1645245

>, gateways, etc access to local shared
> drives 
If it's pure Linux NFS/SSH/SCP, etc, if working with Windoze you'll need
a samba layer

> have a browser to be able to run browser based
> applications (i.e. 11i) 
FireFox - it's shiznit:
http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/nightly/latest-trunk/

> have backup process for data files
various freeware stuff - amanda is good but does not do incremental; see
SourceForge.net, or buy a copy of BRU

> and automated process to install image onto an old PC
kickstart, part of Red Hat (see: redhat-config-kickstart); for a true
"image" (i.e. ghost-like) there are some tools out there but I have not
checked on their maturity lately - see SourceForge.net
IBM's xCAT (arguably overkill but still totally kick-@$$)


> I am thinking for the email client either evolution or
> mozilla's thunderbird, and for the browsing either mozilla's
> firebird or firefox, and as for backup i have looked into tar, but
> thats about 
oh

> HELP! As i stated before, i have not really worked with linux
> much so any advice would be great! Thank you!
	The Red Hat docs are top-notch.  They will help with most of
this as it relates to the infrastructure, the docs for Evolution and
Mozilla/FireFox will help with everything else.
	
Good luck..

Don