....... for students of LINUX !......

.
Richard A. Allcorn

Sr. Systems Engineer

......aka: . rAllcorn

at: %20IT NETWORKING.INFO


..


.. Ever since I was first exposed to UNIX, I have loved it!

My first encounter was with SCO-XENIX, the first version of UNIX to run on a pc ("personal computer", not IBM pc). In this case, it was running on a Radio Shack TRS-6000, a Motorola-based processor system, designed just for running their OS, "TRS-XENIX". It was a version of SCO-XENIX adapted for Radio Shack. I later got a project to put together a multi-user system for a law firm, again running SCO-XENIX! I got to run the lines for the terminals, one located in each office and in theconference room, and for the printer. I custom built the pc, which included a tape cartridge backup system to backup the entire system. I chose the OS, and SCO-XENIX was it! I had them order the XENIX Development System, which means that it came with "everything"!

This was my first exposure to sendmail and uucp, to finger, and telnet, and cu (tty calling out) to name a few! You see, back then we didn't "network" our systems. You "dialed in" to another system, with your modem. Well, I had the system set up with 2 modems! One was for me to dial into the system and administer it from my home office. The other? It was for the owner to dial in and check his email and use the system. We installed a terminal and modem in his home as well. When needed, the UUCP system would send their email out, and retrieve any email they had! This was fantastic! I loved it!

Well, we've come a long way since then! I started LINUX with a version of "Slackware". Man, this was an eye-opener for me! You had to build your UNIX system (Linux) from "scratch"! But I did it! Later after trying RedHat, I decided that I should move to that platform. When I ordered me a copy there was somehow an error in the shipping, and I ended up with a copy of something called "SuSE"! I'd never heard of SuSe (pronounced "soo-say") but I decided to install it and try it.

It was fantastic! I've been a loyal follower ever since! I signed up for their subscription plan, where I received every update as it came out! (again, we had yet to develop "online updates") Then they started offering "updates" through the Internet connection, built right into their management tool called "yast". (yet another setup tool) I found this OS to be very user-friendly, and in keeping with the earlier standards I'd become familiar with in SCO-XENIX. I also found that the SuSE folks usually were the first to get the latest drivers out for their OS before the other LINUX versions. This turned out to be a big deciding factor when I started using SuSE on a notebook computer!

Today, I continue my studies using "openSuSE", their public domain version, and I am still experimenting with uucp, sendmail, and the likes. I like to set up a VMWare session on my Linux box so that I can always run a Windows app if there's one I simply cannot live without. I really believe that eventually, this will not be necessary. At present, openSuSE reads all sorts of drive formats, and uses all sorts of media from floppies to thumb drives to streaming tape, hard drives, you name it! And at the time of this writing, SuSE now is owned by NOVELL, so the OS has a good company backing where networking is understood.

I set up this site to try and solicit other LINUX users, and UNIX alike, to make their systems available to a group of folks who want to learn and experiment with uucp, sendmail, and the many many features that make this wonderful OS a blessing to mankind. Now I think that Windows is great for some folks ... just not for me. I also like Mac's. But let's face it ... they're just other choices. Even the MAC is now running on a version of UNIX, so it's just a matter of time.

With this thought in mind, we do not tolerate nor are we supportive of, "melicious hacking". Now the term "hacker" is a good term! It refers to folks like you and me that love to learn more! But there are a few folks out there who abuse and extort other systems, taking advantage of a system weakness and destructively abuse the knowledge they have of operating systems. We don't support these sorts of malicious hackers! It is their doings that have forced OS admins to lock down nice features of UNIX like "finger" and "telnet" (now replaced by a more secure SSH), etc. to keep destructive behavior from occuring. The freedoms and resourceful natures of the UNIX and LINUX OS have been throttled because of the likes of these. Oh sure Windows has hindered our growth, but Windows is destroying itself ... they don't need us! They keep changing the very operation of their OS, their Office package, etc. so that users each time have to re-learn with each release. It's only a matter of time before this process puts them in the "small minority" category. But they don't need us to help them get there. We all need to work together, and show Windows users how helpful UNIX and LINUX is, and how it is "vital" to any network! And that is our goal here as well!