[Gllug] Windows -> Linux

[Xander D Harkness]

My initial response (I will have a think later) is as follows:

Document all software used on windows and its function.  I would do this
separately.  You will find software that you did not think was used and
jobs you did not know were done.

Then decide on one piece of email for each job.  There is a glorious
choice of software in Linux; however it makes support difficult (Except
for web browsers - I would use both netscape and mozilla; there are
still some jobs that mozilla will not do)  Do not forget your plugins -
flash and java.  Neither will work without root access.

I would also choose one desktop (though of course it does not limit you
in terms of applications)

I have done support of a number of desktops and I have had difficulty
with bleeding edge software such as Abiword.  It is fast but it is still
missing some crucial features and it is not as stable as I would like. 
If you can get to 128Mb RAM I would stick with Star Office 5.2.  It may
be slow to start; however the users may just leave it open.  It is also
more compatible with M$ products than M$ is.  In terms of Office
software KDE is lacking in M$ conversions, Hancom in lacking in
stability and I never did get the demo CD from Applix.

You will also want to decide whether you use nfs home directories or
local.  If you use local I would use unison in batch mode to syncronise
with a main file server on an hourly cron job.

As a mail client - Evolution is familiar to all and I have been hooked
for months :-)

Have fun.

Xander







On Thu, 2001-12-06 at 10:23, Daniel Fairs wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I was wondering if anyone had any experience on migrating Windows desktops
> to Linux. Our company is looking at reducing software licensing costs, and
> moving to Linux is the obvious answer.
> 
> Naturally, however, The Management want to do a small-scale trial first,
> with just one or two users. The main fileserver will remain NT4 for the time
> being.
> 
> The Linux machines will be used for basic word processing, email, web
> browsing, printing and so on.
> 
> Fortunately we don't run an Exchange mail server (phew).
> 
> Does anyone have any experience of overseeing this sort of thing? Any
> hints/tips/gotchas? Distro recommendations? (I'd probably use RedHat, simply
> because it's the one I'm most familiar with, though I was very happy with
> SuSE in the 6.2 days.)
> 
> The workstations are all pretty old - P2 266 machines, with 64MB RAM, though
> I can probably swing an upgrade on the memory front for each of them.
> 
> Any thoughts?
> 
> Cheers,
> Dan
> 
> _______________________________________________________
> Daniel Fairs | d.fairs at cogtest.com | +44 (0)20 77029000
> 
> 
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