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On Sun, 2004-03-14 at 23:42, David Pithouse wrote:
After running Termisoc the UoP computing society for the past couple of years I would actually that the university is driving out linux on a wide scale. From the server-side it has increased. I have more unix boxes and linux
boxes than before. So much so that the current auditors may well indicate that I need staff to help me - something the Uni has always stated that they cannot afford.
They don't teach it, they don't actively use it in lectures,
Really? I thought the soC taught linux under its 'operating systems' bit.
it's near impossible to get a unix account if you aren't a computing student.
I would agree that there is no central provision for linux - something I have mentioed before but with only me providing central support, it just ain't gonna happen! However SoC have linux labs but if they want to restrict it to their own users that is their choice. You good ask your own departmental IT contact about linux provision to see what they say, and/or get them to ask SoC if you could have an account?
The 'Linux' available is a dog tired bloatware version of Suse with a KDE out of the ark.
Is that SoC? As far as I know they are (at least were) installing suse on the new PC's; they may be using fedora now. KDE is used because they use kdevelop - I am told. I suspect that the new pc's will have newer versions of things on them.
And to add insult further there is talk of losing our Linux servers for the society because may not please the audit!
Really? Point to remember is that this is an audit and they make 'suggestions' as to ways to improve security, services, etc. The University does not *have* to do what they say - I know some other Uni's who were told completely ridiculous things and decided to ignore the auditors. I can only think you would lose the servers for security reasons. In the light of that then yes you may be asked to turn them off, although that would apply to absolutely anything on the Uni's network that is unsecure. Secondaly, make sure the servers are secure and then if you are asked to turn them off ask for details as to why. Thirdly, the servers could be taken over and run centrally - probably not what you want :-)
Sadly I think the techys have been brain washed or just so p.ed off that they have just give up and agree with everything.
Brain-washed - no; peed-off yes to some extent. Personally I am happy because I have lots of things to do and all on unix/linux. I hear of the MS problems around me and just carry on working :-) Obviously though from the staff/student aspect that is not what you want to hear! Unfortunately the Uni *is* an MS windows orientated site, and as such if something doesn't work and you are not using MS apps then you will receive little support. On the other hand the people I work with do try and ensure that things work with non-MS clients. Unfortunately, though they are only 'required' to provide MS support. Having said that, if something doesn't work then it should be looked into - even if it's only to say that the problem won't be fixed. The Uni may want to take the stance of being an MS-desktop site, but it is short-sighted to state that support for unix, linux, Mac and whatever else is not going to be provided at all. To that extent it should not be a problem to 'look' at problems using non-MS apps to access Uni services. John. -- --------------------------------------------------------------- John Horne, University of Plymouth, UK Tel: +44 (0)1752 233914 E-mail: John.Horne@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Fax: +44 (0)1752 233839 -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG Mail majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe list" in the message body to unsubscribe.