[TriLUG] fri am scat humor, win2003server, print queueing, linksys blows grits and advanced topics labs

[Aaron S. Joyner]

Your "advanced topics lab session" sounds interesting.  Can you provide 
some more information about what "advanced topics" you generally 
frequent?  :)  Also, what is the general makeup of the group, in terms 
of experience levels, political/industry slants, etc?

Aaron J.


Jim Ray wrote:

>Well, nothing like starting the day with a non-confrontational subject and
>after seeing my 2 yr old son take his first poop in the baby potty this
>morning.  Only another parent could truly appreciate that comment.  Life is
>good.
>
>On a serious note, my largest client just migrated from Windows NT4 to
>Windows 2003 Server and experienced a problem with sharing NT4 printer
>drivers on the 2003 server.  Me thinks Microsoft has implemented a feature
>to force users into upgrading NT4 workstations to XP Pro in order to print
>with server-based queues.
>
>Why do I mention this matter on a decidedly-Linux users list?  Because I am
>thinking about chucking a Linux box in the corner with Samba and CUPS to
>arbitrate print queues.  The big dog at corporate wants to install HP
>Internet printing on each NT4 workstation to print directly to the HP
>Jetdirects.  Isn't it better to let a print server arbitrate print traffic
>control and queuing instead of having each individual NT4 workstation do its
>own job?  What happens when more than one PC wants to print at the same time
>unless you have a print server arbitrating traffic?  I'm afraid it will slow
>down some of those old 300 MHz PCs trying to squeeze off some big
>spreadsheet.
>
>With the server migration, I had the bright idea to isolate the two servers
>on an independent network with a spare Linksys switch to prevent file
>modification while migrating data.  It puked hard and was pitifully slow.  I
>was very disappointed, yanked it out, plugged into the HP4000M and watched
>the servers fly like greased lightning.  After that experience, me thinks I
>need to look at better switchgear that provides options to nail down duplex
>and speed instead of this plug and puke variety.  Any recommendations?  I've
>been pretty happy with the El Cheapo garden variety until now.  I like
>having the ability to telnet into the switch or access one using web-based
>administration in order to see what is going on collision-wise or to
>manually set parameters.
>
>Lastly, we had one more person (welcome, Raymond!) join us last night at our
>advanced topics lab session that meets on Thursday nights from 7-9 pm at my
>house whenever TriLUG does not meet as a whole group.  With the regulars,
>that leaves one more open seat without exceeding the arbitrary class size of
>8.  Let me know if anyone else is interested, and I'll forward the details.
>
>Microsoft rocks.  I am so glad they create problems that I have to go fix
>and that I consider fixing with Linux, Samba and CUPS.  I'd be delighted to
>hear about the experiences of others with that type solution in environments
>with the propensity for more than one print job to occur at the same time.
>
>Regards,
>
>Jim
>
>Jim Ray, MCSE
>Network Engineer
>Neuse River Network, Inc.
>2610 Vanderbilt Ave
>Raleigh NC 27607-7247
>tel: 919-838-1672 x201 toll free: 800-617-7652
>http://www.Neuse.Net
>
>  
>