[oclug] This is what Linux was made for....

[Robert Brockway]

On Thu, 25 Nov 2004, Adrian Irving-Beer wrote:

> IMO, the network bandwidth required to pull off X on the network is a

I've tried it.  Believe me it works.  X is not the network hog many people
claim.  I'm not sure how the story got started but it is not true.  The
only thing X does poorly which is noticable over a slow link is colour
negotiation.  Even this is not a really bad problem in my experience.
Once colour negotiation is done X is great.  I use this to get real work
done.

I have seen 30 Xterminals used on 10Mb networks - they work really well on
100Mb switches.

Run a web browswer from a remote server and use it.  This is one of the
things I did during the SpeedGeek demo.

> little excessive.  Things like VNC would work, though, at the cost of
> more server load.

VNC is generally better on low bandwidth links and X performs better on
LANs.  VNC is noticably slower running over a LAN in my experience (many
years worth of using both apps).

> Except that you'd need to severely reeducate the users, since they've

Not as much as some might think.  One company here in Toronto changed most
of their users to Xterminals.  They reported most of the non-technical
users could not tell the difference and did not understand there was a
difference.

Technical users do need to be reeducateed but since this is proven
technology I think the evidence speaks for itself.  A demo seems to clear
up most misconceptions and concerns regarding the use of Xterminals.

> grown up accustomed to the single-user workstation.  Resource-hogging,
> OS-reinstalling, virus-spreading PHBs.  Old story, but one that
> inevitably requires 'backwards compatibility' in all the less
> progressive companies.

This comes back to my "Is Linux Desktop ready?" response.

The question is, "is it desktop ready for a particular company or user?"

I've been using Linux on the desktop since 1994 and exclusively since
1996.  It has been desktop ready for me since 1996 but this does not mean
it is desktop ready for anyone else.  It all depends on what the company
does on the desktop.  To ask "Is Linux Desktop ready" is to ask the wrong
question as it is too broad.

I am not saying you are asking this question by the way, but suggesting
many companies are asking the wrong question.

> technical ineptitude; but they're better than nothing, and they're
> all we got for now.

Companies are out there using Xterminals.  Dade county, Florida for one.
Other local governments and companies too.  People are using Linux on the
desktop and they are using thin clients.  Most of them are just not making
a big deal about it.

Cheers,
	Rob

-- 
Robert Brockway B.Sc.
Senior Technical Consultant, OpenTrend Solutions Ltd.
Phone: 416-669-3073, Email: rbrockway at opentrend.net, http://www.opentrend.net
OpenTrend Solutions: Reliable, secure solutions to real world problems.