Re: migrating from MacOS to unix [drifting off-topic]

This WebDNA talk-list message is from

2000

It keeps the original formatting. numero = 35268
interpreted = N
texte = Bob Sneidar (bobs@twft.com), on 7/26/00 6:12 PM you wrote:> Given all these potential problems, why would you want to??For me, Linux's power and speed are awfully hard to resist, and the price isright :-) Regardless, I have absolutely no intention of retiring my Mac (andI intend try Mac OS X when the public beta becomes available).I first started mixing Mac and UNIX back in college when the only net accesswas through a shell account. A/UX intrigued me, though I've onlyencountered one machine actually running it. Since then, I've found lots ofuses for UNIX. One of my favorites is taking a PC with a large hard drive,installing Linux and then using Netatalk to make the big disk available to aMac. If you have a SCSI-only Mac and an old PC around, this can save you abit of money over buying a large SCSI drive.A UNIX program called 'wget' makes mirroring web and ftp sites a snap.While you can fumble around with WebDevil or WebWhacker's dialogs, I likebeing able to type the magic incantation 'wget -mq http://www.something.com&' and have an entire site downloaded in the background. Nice if you'rebringing an existing site to a new server. If you like writing scripts toautomate tasks, UNIX gives you a choice of shells and perl to make thingshappen. UNIX can be a bit like an Erector set-- puzzling to some, a wealthof gears, wheels and widgets for others.Another case for UNIX is the Apache web server. Under Apache, WebCatperforms quite nicely even on modest hardware with a number of otherservices going simultaneously. MacOS X Server ships with Apache, and Appleprovides an administrative front end that saves you the trauma of hacking upthe server's config file to get things like you want.I like Web*Star's admin program, but think its URL-based access controlrealms are lousy. Apache, on the other hand, lets you define realms basedon directory location. Say you provide statistical reports for yourcustomers and want to use realms to keep prying eyes out. Web*Star makesyou provide a unique match string for each realm. Apache's realms aren'tdependent on the URL at all In fact, you can even serve the same page fromtwo different virtual domains and force one domain's users to authenticate,but allow visitors to the other domain to view it without a password.That's not a very practical feature, but it does illustrate how flexibleApache's access control is if you're willing to dig around to see how itworks.Fortunately, WebCatalog isn't particularly difficult to install on anyplatform, provided you're familiar with the way your system works.But of course, there are disadvantages. With a Mac, you can have a userwith only FTP access (or e-mail or whatever), because many Mac serverproducts allow you to use either file sharing permissions orpackage-specific access control lists. Setting up Maxum Development'sRumpus FTP server is a snap. Setting up and securing WU-FTPd on a UNIXmachine is quite a bit of work and research. It's not obvious to thebeginner how to implement access control (ACLs are defined in a ratherugly-looking fashion in /etc/ftpaccess) or how to simply disable anonymousaccess (add ftp to the /etc/ftpusers file) since some misguided soul atRed Hat thought it would be good to allow anonymous users by default.There's also the time and money factor. Unless you're truly technicallyinclined, you probably don't want to ascend UNIX's steep learning curve andits bizarre commands (Who the hell thought 'sed' was a good name for afind/replace utility anyway?). Hiring an experienced sysadmin is an optionif you have the budget for one.For many, it's quite practical and cost effective to spend a little moremoney on hardware and software to take advantage of the Mac's ease ofdeployment. Others may feel the need to do everything by hand and revel inthe process of tweaking a UNIX box. Then, there are those of us who considerour Macs and UNIX machines both to be valuable tools and use each for theirrespective strengths.--Andrew Vernonavernon@dramatools.net-------------------------------------------------------------This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to the mailing list .To unsubscribe, E-mail to: To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to Web Archive of this list is at: http://search.smithmicro.com/ Associated Messages, from the most recent to the oldest:

Re: migrating from MacOS to unix [drifting off-topic] (anita@tenon.com (Anita Holmgren) 2000)
Re: migrating from MacOS to unix [drifting off-topic] (Andrew Vernon 2000)

Bob Sneidar (bobs@twft.com), on 7/26/00 6:12 PM you wrote:> Given all these potential problems, why would you want to??For me, Linux's power and speed are awfully hard to resist, and the price isright :-) Regardless, I have absolutely no intention of retiring my Mac (andI intend try Mac OS X when the public beta becomes available).I first started mixing Mac and UNIX back in college when the only net accesswas through a shell account. A/UX intrigued me, though I've onlyencountered one machine actually running it. Since then, I've found lots ofuses for UNIX. One of my favorites is taking a PC with a large hard drive,installing Linux and then using Netatalk to make the big disk available to aMac. If you have a SCSI-only Mac and an old PC around, this can save you abit of money over buying a large SCSI drive.A UNIX program called 'wget' makes mirroring web and ftp sites a snap.While you can fumble around with WebDevil or WebWhacker's dialogs, I likebeing able to type the magic incantation 'wget -mq http://www.something.com&' and have an entire site downloaded in the background. Nice if you'rebringing an existing site to a new server. If you like writing scripts toautomate tasks, UNIX gives you a choice of shells and perl to make thingshappen. UNIX can be a bit like an Erector set-- puzzling to some, a wealthof gears, wheels and widgets for others.Another case for UNIX is the Apache web server. Under Apache, WebCatperforms quite nicely even on modest hardware with a number of otherservices going simultaneously. MacOS X Server ships with Apache, and Appleprovides an administrative front end that saves you the trauma of hacking upthe server's config file to get things like you want.I like Web*Star's admin program, but think its URL-based access controlrealms are lousy. Apache, on the other hand, lets you define realms basedon directory location. Say you provide statistical reports for yourcustomers and want to use realms to keep prying eyes out. Web*Star makesyou provide a unique match string for each realm. Apache's realms aren'tdependent on the URL at all In fact, you can even serve the same page fromtwo different virtual domains and force one domain's users to authenticate,but allow visitors to the other domain to view it without a password.That's not a very practical feature, but it does illustrate how flexibleApache's access control is if you're willing to dig around to see how itworks.Fortunately, WebCatalog isn't particularly difficult to install on anyplatform, provided you're familiar with the way your system works.But of course, there are disadvantages. With a Mac, you can have a userwith only FTP access (or e-mail or whatever), because many Mac serverproducts allow you to use either file sharing permissions orpackage-specific access control lists. Setting up Maxum Development'sRumpus FTP server is a snap. Setting up and securing WU-FTPd on a UNIXmachine is quite a bit of work and research. It's not obvious to thebeginner how to implement access control (ACLs are defined in a ratherugly-looking fashion in /etc/ftpaccess) or how to simply disable anonymousaccess (add ftp to the /etc/ftpusers file) since some misguided soul atRed Hat thought it would be good to allow anonymous users by default.There's also the time and money factor. Unless you're truly technicallyinclined, you probably don't want to ascend UNIX's steep learning curve andits bizarre commands (Who the hell thought 'sed' was a good name for afind/replace utility anyway?). Hiring an experienced sysadmin is an optionif you have the budget for one.For many, it's quite practical and cost effective to spend a little moremoney on hardware and software to take advantage of the Mac's ease ofdeployment. Others may feel the need to do everything by hand and revel inthe process of tweaking a UNIX box. Then, there are those of us who considerour Macs and UNIX machines both to be valuable tools and use each for theirrespective strengths.--Andrew Vernonavernon@dramatools.net-------------------------------------------------------------This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to the mailing list .To unsubscribe, E-mail to: To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to Web Archive of this list is at: http://search.smithmicro.com/ Andrew Vernon

DOWNLOAD WEBDNA NOW!

Re: migrating from MacOS to unix [drifting off-topic]

2000

Top Articles:

Related Readings: