KLUG Minutes (30 November 1999)

[awilliam@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Kalamazoo Linux Users Group
Meeting Notes
November 30, 1999
Submitted by Tony Gettig

The meeting convened at 7:00 PM with 17 in attendance.

Bob Brown made the following announcements:

1) Michigan Polio Network update - The finishing touches are being put 
in
place and a sample website should be up in a couple of weeks.

2) Video outreach - Bob has encountered difficulty in contacting the 
staff
at the Community Access Center (as have others). Still waiting for a 
call
back.

3) Next week's beginners meeting will also have pizza. The website
http://klug.armintl.com will have a link with this information. YOU 
MUST
RSVP so we know how much pizza to order. The cost will depend on how 
many
people RSVP. 

4) The Extended Membership is undergoing a name change. It is now know 
as
the "Supporting Membership". For just $25 per year (or $.50 a meeting 
in
Bob lingo), you too can become a Supporting Member. KLUG has numerous
resources available for checkout to Supporting Members, and the price 
of
BSware is reduced as well. 

5) Elections are coming up. Now is the time to step forward and get 
into a
leadership role in KLUG. See http://klug.armintl.com/organize for 
details
of positions and how to run for office.

Bob Brown was the featured speaker. The title of his presentation was
"Linux at Boogies! (Well...um...not quite!)"

For various reasons, the deployment date has been delayed until some 
time
in December. There are eight workstations to be installed and three
configurations.

The "why?" question was addressed right away: it is a showcase for 
Linux in
a public, commercial environment. It is also a LAN where KLUG can 
provide
opportunities to its members, and will be a residual source of income 
for
KLUG. The group will get a percentage of all revenue generated by 
computer
use at Boogies.

The goals of this project were to provide the following:

   - High availability, low maintenance LAN
   - Remote support and administration
   - Security
   - Full featured applications available
   - Growth path based on user demand

Linux measures up to these specifications very well. Bob gave several
reasons why Linux is a superior platform for the Cybercafe business. 
These
include:

   - Least expensive platform to meet the requirements
   - Broad, growing software
   - No proprietary knowledge required to maintain
   - Robust and complete set of networking tools
   - Flexible configuration and resource management

The principal tools employed for this project are X-Window, cron jobs,
configurable shell specifications, a client-server database, protected
remote access, and careful choice of a window manager. 

X provides a network based GUI. The time tracking application actually
resides on the server with the display exported to the workstation. If 
the
user closes or crashes the time keeping application, a cron job will
reasssert the remote X display and show the time tracker to the user 
again. 

The time keeping application and network management tools all run from 
the
server. End user applications such as web browser, word processor, and
games run from the client workstations.

The cron jobs, including the one previously mentioned, check the 
client
workstations periodically and set important characteristics of the 
various
processes running. The cron jobs are a vital part of the security 
strategy
and help enforce the integrity of the client workstation 
configuration.

The ability to "shell out" of an application (such as telnet) has been
removed, by changing the users login shell to a "no-op" program. This 
relsuts in nothing being executed when such options are exercised. The
only way a user can be logged on initially is through gdm.

The time keeping application is a PostgreSQL database written with a
combination of C, C++, and bash scripts. Documenation wil be provided 
to
the employees.

The choice of a window manager centered around familiarity. qvwm was 
chosen
for its striking similarity to Windows 98. A broad array of 
applications
are avaialble to the users including Internet access, Internet phone 
booth,
writing and drawing tools, video applications, and a plentiful number 
of
games. 

Last but not least, Bob gave credit to the team members who worked so 
hard
over the course of the past several months to bring this idea of a
Cybercafe running Linux to reality and making it a showcase 
application.

With the formal presentation ended, Bob led the group in a PCO 
(partial
cost of ownership) excercise. The components to accomplish the same 
tasks
were listed with approximate price (usually lower than going price) 
and
tallied up. The end result was a LAN for just over $12,000. The entire
software cost of the Boogies LAN is $0. 

The meeting adjourned at approximately 8:50 PM.