operating systems

From: Wirehead Prime <wirehead_at_retrocomputing.com>
Date: Wed Dec 31 19:17:24 1997

> Errrr...not to quibble...but the primary restriction on using Linux is the
> processor and the RAM not so much the hard drive. You can run a usable
> linux system on a 386 with 4mb of RAM and 20mb of drive space. I know
> because I ran a small FTP/web server on one...if I powered it up, it'd
> still run and do ok...can't handle many simultaneous users and swaps
> itself to death if you don't reboot it every morning but that's easy
> with crond.
>
> You can't do ALOT of software development mind you...but you can have
> full networking utilities...even run Lynx for web stuff...and write
> shell scripts and editors and do all kinds of useful things.

> Er....one question here. I've tried Linux many times, as well as Minix. From
> all of my attempts, I have come to the following conclusion: Linux is not for
> doing USEFUL things. The express purpose of Linux is to provide something for
> people to recompile. After all, you HAVEN'T seen people doing something on
> Linux besides recompiling the kernel and configuring TCP/IP stacks, HAVE YOU?
>

In 1993 I started an ISP around $500, a 386 box cobbled together from
friends' spare junk and Linux...today that ISP is statewide, owns all its
hardware, has no debts and pays me twice the median income in my state, I
own my home and have the leisure time in the evenings to correct folks'
misconceptions about the usefulness of Linux. Why? Because of Linux,
it's flexibility, it's cost (FREE) and it's reliability.

I run 6 web servers on Linux, 3 mail servers, 4 domain name servers,
several authentication servers and use Linux boxes to quite reliably
replace ethernet to ethernet routers and switches that would normally
cost thousands...for only a few hundred dollars per system.

In addition, I use a very secure firewall product based around a custom
linux box. I use linux for all my text editing needs and for modifying
HUGE log files...had to change all the 1995 dates to 1997 in 20 25mb log
files today...couldn't do it on a Mac, couldn't even talk to Windows
about it...but was able to accomplish it on Linux with a standard utility
called 'sed' with ONE command line per file, each command line being
fewer than 40 characters in length including file name and the entire
process took UNDER A MINUTE.

I'm currently building a CGI system on a linux box which will implement a
store to sell un-needed retrocomputing hardware...and it works quite
nicely I might add...in fact, it works so nicely...

...that a gentleman who colocates an NT based system running Cold Fusion
commented that my web store, running over a 33.6k DIALUP link, is faster
and more responsive than his system running on a T1!

I use it to cross-compile code for microcontrollers. A friend of mine
uses it for C development. Another friend of mine maintains a 70
megabyte database on a Linux box at work. A local mortgage company is
going to Linux for many important tasks...ever hear of Norwest?

And...as for recompiling the kernel...at least with Linux YOU CAN. I've
built linux kernels that will reliably accept 32 or more incoming dialup
connections on multiport serial cards (not even the smart ones) and
generate throughput to the users faster than what my competitors' fancy
terminal servers can do. (I now use terminal servers because of the 56k
modem nightmare) I've built linux kernels to implement multi-homing web
servers at a tiny fraction of the cost of systems like NT or BSDI. If I
want to install a different ethernet card the kernel can auto-recognize
and configure it...why? Because you can compile support for whatever
ethernet boards you want right into the kernel.

I've seen a Linux web server running on a 75mhz Pentium, with 64 megs of
RAM and IDE hard drives outperform (and I have witnesses!) an NT web
server on a dual Pentium Pro 200 with 128mb of RAM and fast SCSI hard drives.

So don't sit there and tell me Linux isn't good for anything. If it
weren't for Linux and how it allowed me to break into the ISP market I'd
probably still be working for $10/hour for some big corporate ISP or
doing COBOL programming for some insurance company. Linux Torvalds and
his thousands of cohorts have produced probably the best set of software
with the best intentions in the history of computing.

Saying it's useful for nothing more than kernel recompiles is utter
non-sense. But don't let me bother you with the facts. =-)

Anthony Clifton - Wirehead
Received on Wed Dec 31 1997 - 19:17:24 GMT