Linux Slackware Edition

[ki4bwj]

Well I have been running Linux for a long time to do my packet work and settled on Slackware to do the work. Great program and easy to download only 3 CD's. Well I got a new hard drive for my laptop and was going to switch back anbd forth with XP and Linux using 2 hard drives. Actually installed both on the hard drive and was going to go throught all the process that you see on the internet about dual booting. No need to Slackwares boot manager detected Windows and now I get a choice to run either one. The cool part is that the XP files are accessable from Linux.

If you have any questions about Linux and JNOS, give me a shout and I will try to help out. My station has been running solid for over three months. I just rebooted it to make a routing change. Linux is rock solid and it has no memeory issues that Windows has.

73,
Brad
http://www.ki4bwj.org

[n8vw]

Well I have been running Linux for a long time to do my packet work and settled on Slackware to do the work. Great program and easy to download only 3 CD's. Well I got a new hard drive for my laptop and was going to switch back anbd forth with XP and Linux using 2 hard drives. Actually installed both on the hard drive and was going to go throught all the process that you see on the internet about dual booting. No need to Slackwares boot manager detected Windows and now I get a choice to run either one. The cool part is that the XP files are accessable from Linux.

If you have any questions about Linux and JNOS, give me a shout and I will try to help out. My station has been running solid for over three months. I just rebooted it to make a routing change. Linux is rock solid and it has no memeory issues that Windows has.

73,
Brad
http://www.ki4bwj.org

I started on slackware, but drifted off to the redhat world finally the Gentoo world with a smattering of Ubuntu/Debian. Isn't jnos obsolete? I seem to remember reading something from ka9q about it being so.

[ki4bwj]

Take a look at http://www.ki4bwj.org/packet if you think JNOS is obsolete. The entire system runs on JNOS using a combination of Linux and Windows. Linux does the work and Windows looks pretty. Our system does everytinh that Winlink is supposed to do w/o the need of a $1200 modem from Germany.

I have found that Slackware is the most stable Linux out there. There is one guy writing the software so the releses are slower, but more stable. RedHat is a very good distro if you want to pay for it. You could get Fedora, but it takes a huge computer and foever to get the updates even with a cable modem. It is a good choice for a webserver, but overkill for a personal computer. Ubunto you have to download all the development tools if you need them. Slackware is the best version for our packet network since it comes with all we need, can run on modest hardware and is the one used by the JNOS developer.

[kr4uq]

Well I have been running Linux for a long time to do my packet work and settled on Slackware to do the work. Great program and easy to download only 3 CD's. Well I got a new hard drive for my laptop and was going to switch back anbd forth with XP and Linux using 2 hard drives. Actually installed both on the hard drive and was going to go throught all the process that you see on the internet about dual booting. No need to Slackwares boot manager detected Windows and now I get a choice to run either one. The cool part is that the XP files are accessable from Linux.

If you have any questions about Linux and JNOS, give me a shout and I will try to help out. My station has been running solid for over three months. I just rebooted it to make a routing change. Linux is rock solid and it has no memeory issues that Windows has.

73,
Brad
http://www.ki4bwj.org

Oh no = now we hear from the Peterspatch Peanut Gallery :oops:

[n8vw]

Take a look at http://www.ki4bwj.org/packet if you think JNOS is obsolete. The entire system runs on JNOS using a combination of Linux and Windows. Linux does the work and Windows looks pretty. Our system does everytinh that Winlink is supposed to do w/o the need of a $1200 modem from Germany.

I have found that Slackware is the most stable Linux out there. There is one guy writing the software so the releses are slower, but more stable. RedHat is a very good distro if you want to pay for it. You could get Fedora, but it takes a huge computer and foever to get the updates even with a cable modem. It is a good choice for a webserver, but overkill for a personal computer. Ubunto you have to download all the development tools if you need them. Slackware is the best version for our packet network since it comes with all we need, can run on modest hardware and is the one used by the JNOS developer.

I couldn't find a network diagram, but it does to me sound like jnos might not be needed. Have you looked at pskmail http://sharon.esrac.ele.tue.nl/~pa0r/pskmail/ for your hf links? Gotta fight that winlink junk! Also here is another alternative for email when the links aren't so good using some of the lesser none features of qmail, http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/6299. I stay away from sendmail...

You can't consider your box stable until it is getting hammered with connections and doesn't die. My mail server is the only box I consider stable, I've seen 15 minute load averages of 90+ on the box (darn spammers) with it still being accessible, yes it was hard to get a port 25 connection due to the 100 connection limit, but all other services were up and responsive. That is with 2 cpu's and a GB of ram. I think it tickled swap a little on that, but usually it uses no swap space. I've also had RH6.2 boxes stay up well past 500 days (when the up time counter rolls over on 2.2 kernels).

[ki4bwj]

Well the only time our systems are restarted is if we make a configuration change or hardware upgrade. Jnos has been running for over 120 day solid before. It has no issues with making the connection and is running very stable with no issues. As for PSKmail you are talking about a HF link that may be great now, but tomorrow may be non usable. Hf may be fine for contestesting and saying "hey I contacted the other side of the world" but it is not reliable for constant connections. Besides on emcomm made the famous saying "all emergencies are local".

We are not using sendmail in the traditional sense it was designed for. We are using it to talk to JNOS and then the internet. Maybe that is what sendmail was original designed for. Can you show me another packet program that will take packet email and convert it to internet email? At the same time allowing users to use an outlook looking program on a windows box with no internet send a message via internet email from a station that is 50+miles away. Oh yea the Winlink crowd says tey can do it. Have dealt with the PINTA program called "airmail"?

Let the spammers have at it. Because of the rewrite file in jnos they all get deleted anyway! BTW what would a spammer want with a packet radio system? This is a backup for email when there is no internet. If the email address is not out there like joining a bunch of groups most likely spammers won't get it anyway. Also since we are not using sendmail to send the email directly to the recipiant, no relaying can take place. All sendmail is doing is converting JNOS messages to something that an intenernet mail server understands.

[M0GLO]

I've got 2 words:

Red Hat.

Why you ask?

Because it is the only Linux corporations will touch.
That means that in the end it will win out in the commercial sphere, and if you don't know it's vagaries and eccentricities you will be left behind.

Is it the best distro? Probably not.
Is it the most accepted. Yes. That means it will be the best supported in the end.

Take my words on it, I've been a Sr Admin for financial corps for 12+years.
I've been using Linux since Slackware kernel .98 on a blazing fast i386 (booted off of one floppy, the whole thing).

[n8vw]

I've got 2 words:

Red Hat.

Why you ask?

Because it is the only Linux corporations will touch.
That means that in the end it will win out in the commercial sphere, and if you don't know it's vagaries and eccentricities you will be left behind.

Is it the best distro? Probably not.
Is it the most accepted. Yes. That means it will be the best supported in the end.

Take my words on it, I've been a Sr Admin for financial corps for 12+years.
I've been using Linux since Slackware kernel .98 on a blazing fast i386 (booted off of one floppy, the whole thing).

You got that right on the commercial end. But don't confuse it for FC.