Re: Linux advice [was Re: Where now?]

On Fri, 26 Dec 2008 20:48:30 +0000, Rob Kendrick wrote:

On Fri, 26 Dec 2008 20:24:45 GMT
Bob Latham <bob@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I would like some advice on Linux.

I wanted to set up a linux box to do 3 things.

Act as a NAS, FTP server and to experiment with RISC OS emulators.
Fraught with problems for me.

Well, for the NAS, NFS or Samba. Depending on your client. If your
clients are other UNIX machines or RISC OS, use NFS. It's simpler,
faster, and generally better. Only start suffering Samba if you need
to talk to Windows too.

ISTR having issues with NFS when the underlying IP link is at all flakey
- SMB (i.e. samba) coped a lot better. Maybe NFS has been improved since
then, though (this was what, 5 or 6 years back now; NFS have been around
in Linux for a long time by then, but that didn't necessarily mean it
wasn't without bugs)

FTP these days I use vsftpd (mainly because the proftpd server I had to
hand was built for IPv6 and I hadn't bothered to add IPv6 support to my
kernel). Works exactly as I expect it to, anyway (and I find FTP a lot
easier to use to move data around quickly vs. setting up a SMB network and
getting all the security right; I suppose similar to your argument of NFS
vs. SMB)

Once you've got that working, you then realise that FTP is a horrible
hack and the sooner you're rid of it, the better.

TFTP was the hack, although I do still use it once in a while :)

Firstly which distro to choose. It seems that some packages work on
some distros and not others, the RO emulator is a good example.

If you'd like help here, explain your problem. Personally, I'd suggest
Ubuntu. It's easy to install, is well-polished, and I know for a fact
that RPCemu runs under it a treat.

Horses for course. I've always been a slackware person and will likely
stick with it, purely because they don't go screwing around with
fundamental things upon each release, as some of the more "pretty" distros
do.

Having decided all the above you then have to wrestle with something
called IP tables which are a total pain for beginners.

Do you? I can't say I've ever needed to directly fidgeted with iptables
except on router machines, which I assume you are not.

I don't think I have either. The only time I've really screwed with NAT
on a Linux box is via a Smoothwall install, and that has a
compentent-enough UI to avoid really getting hands dirty. I did set up
a gateway between Ethernet and Token Ring networks about a decade ago,
but my memory's hazy now (and I'm not sure that iptables even existed
then)

User friendly it is not.

My 81-year-old non-technical father in law finds it a joy to use, even
managing to set up complex software packages such as MythTV and learning
to use the GIMP to a staggering standard by simply reading the
documentation and asking precise and clear questions to those in the
know.

As I said elsehwere, I've been whith it for 15 years now. It *is*
user-friendly, *but* what it needs is a lot of reading, learning and
asking of questions because it's not a simple point-and-click OS like
Windows (and I really really hope it stays that way, despite the efforts
by some distro maintainers). Learn how Linux (and more fundamentally, any
UNIX system) works and things* eventually just 'click' and it becomes
easy.

* caveat being that I cannot stand "pretty" distros that try to be clever
and mask functionality from the user in order to make things 'easy'. IME
they inevitably add bloat and extra features - and that's just more stuff
to get in the way and go wrong...


.

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