[TriLUG] [Fwd: Re: I've Had Enough...]

Janyne Kizer janyne_kizer at ncsu.edu
Thu May 9 12:53:53 EDT 2002


One of the users in the office that was installed this week had the
following comment:

"The new system is pretty cool - just takes a little practice."

The file compatibility between Word and StarOffice isn't bad but we do
have a bit of a mess with WordPerfect in some offices and Word in
others.  The main problem that we have, though, is with printing.  Every
office/model of printer is a new challenge.  Basically, we need for
StarOffice to be able to use different paper trays.  In other words,
letterhead in one tray and plain paper in another and perhaps there is
an envelope feeder as welll.  Oh, and manual feed for legal (and so
on).  We've had some success in editing the PPD files that SO uses but
it's still not a smooth process for us at all.  Any suggestions
regarding printing and the use of paper trays would be greatly
appreciated.

John Matthews wrote:
> 
> The attached message was sent to an NCSU mailing list as part of a
> discussion about reactions to Microsoft's new licensing and pricing
> plans. It details a move by the extension offices toward a Linux network
> with terminals all around the state. I thought it was a positive enough
> experience that it would be worth sharing with the group here.
> 
> I emailed the author and have permission to share this, as well as an
> invitation to extend to anyone that would like to help out. Many of you
> may already know Janyne Kizer, who is the sysadmin for this project, and
> I presume this is in a large part her accomplishment.
> 
> Aside:
> As an NCSU alumnus, it pleases me to see it making some moves in what I
> perceive to be the right direction. I stay in touch with friends over
> there, and the increased budget crisis is starting to cut right to the
> bone in my old department, which is pretty amazing considering how tight
> things were this past year already. Even though some seemingly dumb
> decisions have been made (e.g. PeopleSoft debacle of a few years ago), I
> truly hope to see NCSU make the best of the opportunities it has in
> front of it. It has Red Hat practically on campus now, and if they
> squander that opportunity, then perhaps there really is no hope.
> 
> Anyway, the extension office experience is below. Sorry for rambling
> with this too-long intro.
> 
> matt
> 
> --
> Matt Matthews     \ ph: 919.660.2811        \ Use GNU/Linux  _o) w00t
> Duke Univ., Postdoc\ jvmatthe at math.duke.edu  \____________   /\\
> Dept. of Mathematics\ http://www.math.duke.edu/~jvmatthe/ \ _\_V
> 
>   ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Subject: Re: I've Had Enough...
> Date: Wed, 08 May 2002 17:13:58 -0400
> From: Rhonda Conlon <rhonda_conlon at ncsu.edu>
> Organization: North Carolina State University
> To: tltr at lists.ncsu.edu
> References: <200205081253.IAA16346 at hes01.unity.ncsu.edu>
> 
> Hello,
> 
> Pretty much by necessity, we're going down this road in our county
> extension offices.
> 
> This isn't a huge departure--we're replacing 5 year old UNIX servers.
> Our staff uses terminals instead of pcs. We tested Windows Terminal
> Server and realized we didn't have anywhere near the staff needed to
> adequately support 95 servers remotely. So we switched gears and opted
> to try Linux. 
> 
> We have production Linux servers in 6 county offices so far using many
> of the apps on Henry's list. We're delivering the KDE desktop,
> StarOffice 5.2 (we'll to upgrade to 6.0 when that release is stable),
> Netscape Navigator and Messenger, the GIMP, gftp, and a few other
> utilities.
> 
> We're still looking for a good html editor and an easy to use
> "Publisher" type app for the folks who need more desktop publishing that
> StarOffice offers.
> 
> We beta tested, but the real test is occuring now that a few counties
> have "real" servers with no alternative familiar operating systems to
> fall back on.
> 
> The servers are running very well. Our biggest concern is file
> compatability with other office software. There are some issues with
> formatting and graphics, especially charts, but compatibility is good
> with Office apps other than Publisher. There is no WordPerfect
> compatibility--a big deal since that's the UNIX word processor the
> counties use. We convert individual's WP files when we install the Linux
> servers, and we're looking at using pdf formats for sharing formatted
> documents with WP users until everyone is converted.
> 
> The other issue is the learning curve with StarOffice. We're still
> working on that--both with helping our staff and gearing up ourselves.
> 
> This is a locked-down environment. We recommend that our offices have
> pcs for special purpose needs. Still, this environment seems to work
> well for the majority and it is supportable. Two computing consultants
> and one system administrator support about 1000 users in 95 offices. We
> couldn't do that using Windows.
> 
> I'm looking forward to the upcoming tltr presentation on this topic.
> 
> Rhonda
> 
> Rhonda Conlon
> Interim Director
> Extension and Administrative Technology Services
> College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
> North Carolina State University
> phone: (919) 515-5893
> 
>   ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>                        Name: signature.asc
>    signature.asc       Type: application/pgp-signature
>                 Description: This is a digitally signed message part

-- 

Janyne Kizer
CNE-3, CNE-4, CNE-5
Systems Programmer Administrator I
NC State University, College of Agriculture & Life Sciences
Extension and Administrative Technology Services
Phone: (919) 515-3609



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