[TriLUG] Server vs. workstation setup?

[Andrew Perrin]

There's no hard-and-fast distinction in the *ix world the way there is in,
say, Windows or Novell. Generally speaking, you can think of a workstation
as being a computer with software on it for a human being to use, whereas
a server is a computer with software (and/or hardware) designed to be
accessed by another computer -- generally a workstation but sometimes
another server.

That distinction falls apart, though, since in many cases workstations do
some server work, and users sometimes use servers to do specific
tasks. Some distributions (maybe even most) offer pre-rolled "server" and
"workstation" versions that include the software they consider you most
likely to want on a server or workstation, respectively.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Andrew J Perrin - http://www.unc.edu/~aperrin
Assistant Professor of Sociology, U of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
clists at perrin.socsci.unc.edu * andrew_perrin (at) unc.edu


On Thu, 2 May 2002, Lisa C. Boyd wrote:

> I've heard some of you talk about having a server setup and a workstation 
> setup. Is there a major difference? Or is it like running different 
> software at different times? Can one machine be both or does that depend on 
> the machine?
> 
> Thanks as always :)
> Lisa B.
> 
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