I went into this exercise to see if it was "humanly possible" to use
a Linux-Laptop to replace my Macintosh Powerbook 5300 ce117 - as a
"road warrior" tool...

there were a number of drivers for this - and after about 6 months some
are still there - some are not as important, - but let me set-them
out here - so you can understand what the motivations & goals &
expectations were:

1.) The PB 5300, though still a heck of workhorse is factory / after-
market limited to 49 MB RAM - when Eudora (mail) takes abou 4MB, and a
text-Editor (BBedit) takes about 2 MB same and Netscape Communicator Pro
(browser) takes about 24, with the OS taking about 8-10, that doesn't leave
much for anything else, and the "context switching" or "application switching" was using up
about 30-45 mins a day (about 2-3 mins per try - about 15 switches
per day)...

2.) Although Apple-Mac has some fairly impressive network tools - which
is mostly what I do (Etherpeek suite & Intermapper), I felt I should
be researching more Unix tools for network monitoring & mgmt - especially
since I'm changing my role more to WAN.

3.) Mac PowerBooks cannot run simultaneously ethernet cards with different IP
addresses - (in order to monitor several segments at one time) -

Apparently G3 PowerBook can use built-in on one IP address and a PCMCIA
on another - but I have only "heard this rumored" I haven't done it
myself and/or talked to anyone who has, but AG Group (Makers of Etherpeek
and I are working on it...)...

4.) I really feel that Virtual Desktop GUIs (such as Olvwm, FVWM & FVWM95,
as well as CDE are a real productivity enhancement to a plane-bound
or small-screen(600x 800) person like myself - ALLL my desktop systems
except "NeXToy" are dual screen - both Mac & NeXT-Dimension as well as
my Mac's at home and the SparcStation in my office in Hong Kong... -
Virtual Desktop GUIs are definately an increase in productivity.

5.) 49 MB in a Linux Laptop (with robust Virtual-Memory - ala Linux-Unix
can support a heck of a lot more applications & open files than a MacOS
8 computer (with or without virtual memory - when & if it works on MacOS
8x.

so - now - having said all that - How did it come out?

Expected results:

1.) TriTeal's CDE on RedHat Linux is pretty damned fast & productive
don't hink it crashed a single time in 4-5 months, and it's DEFINATELY
as productive as I had imagined... _ I labelled my four virtual destops
as such: System Admin; Applixware (A MS-Office like suite for Linux-Unix
I have the same package on "Servibear" - my Sparc4 in Hong Kong); E-mail;
(with either exmh (when full-time connected - hardwired) and/or Netscape
communicator 4.04 - when popping-travelling (this is a USELESS piece
of s/w - not from functionality - but from crash/hang standpoint -
VERY FUNCTION when it works - but too unstable - and last desktop
labelled web-browsing..

this is the MOST WONDERFUL thing about Linux - CDE - is the productivity
gain

2.) Network Tools - a great way to do this - especially when hard-wired
connected - the tools run in the background and you can still edit mail
or presentations, or spreadsheet - and don't have to "wait' like with
MacOS

3.) Applixware as an OA tool: - better than expected..

I miss, though, the "flawless" e-mail attachment reading - BUT _ now
that I'm back on the Mac ( for 2-3 weeks now) - it's not NEARLY as "flawless" as I remember, and - in Reality ApplixWare on Linux (or on my Sparc)
is "almost as good" at de-coding & opening MS product attachments
as Macintosh - and though it isn't as "automagic" as Mac (with Mac's
foreign file access, DataViz's MacLinkPlus extensions & so-on)
it does work quite well -

case in point - the new "EISS" MSWord document - 3.8 MB of attachment
(100 pages whenprinted) opened like greased lightning in Applixware
Words - and printed even easier than on the Mac with MS Word...!!!

Spreadsheets are "almost" as good in Applixware, and Applixware can
save it's spreadsheets into other formats - and yes they go back
to Mac-Excel and open pretty well, too...

Applixware still has no easy-solution for decoding MS PowerPoint - but
I find that I can ask someone to save PowerPoint in RTF, and still
read it - and in most cases I don't want to edit or modify a PowerPoint,
just view it.

Applixware's "Presents" to create your own presentations is a "spitting image"
of PowerPoint - has all the stuf PPT has - even slide-shows, etc.

You can save the Presents overheads in several ways too.
 

4.) I do a LOT of faxing from the Mac- and it's pretty seamless on the
Global Village PowerPort Platinum fax-modem PCMCIA card. - how is/was
it on the Linux-Toshiba...
 

Well- here's Bill's first admission of failure - it took me two weeks
to realize (but it was RIGHT THERE IN THE LOG FILE _ if I'd just
READ it CLOSELY!!!!)... that the Motorola 56k PCMCIA Bit-surfer is NOT
a FAX-modem it's only DATA - but someone gave it to me without a book
so - hey - DUMMY!)

Once I found and bought a "Motorola Montana", I "thought" I was in
biz... well - it's tough - some things JUST AIN'T SO EASY in Linux...

You take the modem out of it's little plastic box, you plug it into
your Toshiba, it beeps once (that's Linux's PCMCIA Drivers tell you
it's just noticed a new kid on the block - and about 3-4 seconds
later it beeps again(Linux's way of saying, excuse me - I've looked
here in My database(that Comes With Linux) and I found a driver, and
I've talked to the card - and he speaks my language, and I understand
him and he understands me...

then you say: fax send fonenumber filename (ps file) and press
return and you're faxing - this IS PLUG & PLAY _ ...

So - Some of you will query ? what if my file's not is not PS - well
if you just give e-fax a file-name - in "most" cases it peeks in
the file - and looks at the first few lines, and it does the conversion
on the fly (And YES - "fax" and "efax" s/w are bundled with Linux)...

So- the hang-up is that it does NOT offer you a "printer-Fax" so you
find "fax" in the printer dialog box - BUT _ the e-fax man page
tells you how - I have done it - and it's a tiny Tcl-Tk hack to
get any application to pop-up a window so you can put in the phone
number -and/or there are several of these on the free-ware servers
but I just never bothered - I do it this way - admittedly not perfect
but for me - (since I'm always in&out of terminal windows anyway...

I have a "Print to file" option in most applications that prints to
a PS file - so I just do that - and they all print to the same
psfilename...

then I have a number of "aliases" (in my .cshrc file) that say

alias ofax fax send office_fax_number stnd_fax_ps_filename

so I print it to the PS file, then the next-time I'm in a terminal window
I use the apprpriate alias and off it goes...

I even managed to hack an awk script to convert my Macintosh Fax
PhoneNumbers PhoneBook into the "fax send..." aliases format

next step is to build a "dial-modifiers" file so it can deal with
diffeent countries, & pabxes and etc. etc. etc. -- I can share any
or all of this with anyone who wants it...
 

5.) printing when travelling - this is one of the strengths of
Macintoshes Appletalk / Ethertalk environment - plug-in - it
puts you on the right network, pick-a-printer, LaserWriter8 drivers
build you a pretty decent driver and off you go - I thought -

This will NEVER work on travelling Linux - boy was I ever wrong...

I ask a local admin what their printer's name & IP address are
- edit /etc/hosts - total time - about 15-30 seconds

I also have a "generic" entry in my /etc/printcap - that I can
dup & change - 15-30 seconds

I also add a spool directory (mkdir / chmod) - 10-15 seconds

I have (for Applixware) a printer environment variable in my .cshrc
and I dup &/or change that - comment out the old... - 10 seconds

total time - about 90 seconds (when I'm sleeping) - popup Printer
Manager on CDE Desktop - change defaults - and I'm done -

now -most Mac installation are NOT FILTERING out un-wanted
Mac Chooser Zones - it takes about 90 seconds to bring the Chooser
window up...

AND _ "most" of our sites are using HP 5mpsi printers - which
I have a driver for (off someone's CDROM I think) - so that
goes into the print-cap file as the filter - and all I really
do is change the spool directory, etc.

Now - some say _ I don't want to spend 90 seconds everytime
I go to a different location - so I just wrap all those things
up in Perl or .cshrc script - and we're done

configprt Location_name Printer_name Printer_IP Printer_Type (if notHP)

and the script does all the file changes & such. - even faster...
 
 

Final summary:

It works - it's productive, it ain't perfect - but what in this
world is, it's got about 90% of what I had on the Mac - so it's
about the same - a different set of trade-offs, a "better" environment

a couple of last-words:

is it for everyone: - no
is it ready for prime-time: - maybe
is it more Stable YOU BETCHA _ I think in 4-6 months of use the OS crashed
twice - once I KNOW it was a power-related problem - batery low, plugged
into a socket that was dead - i didn't realize it...

How many PCs or Mac's do you know that crash 2 times in 4 months?

Do apps crash - well Netscape does / did - almost everything else I use
/ used on the Toshiba seems pretty bullet-proof.

Applixware ain't perfect - but I like it because it sticks it to Bill G.
and I get about the same functionality as I did out of his products, and
I get MORE functionality, more speed, less overhead (90% of what is
in Excel and Word and Powerpoint I never used).

I get REAL multi-tasking

I get my virtual desktops

I get multiple e-mail options (POP, SMTP - Many different clients

Yeah - I'm convinced - I still like Mac, don't get me wrong and I'm
writing this on my PB 5300 (with a NEW LCD _ (a LOT of money) it died the other
day -

the Toshiba's are supposed to be as bulletproof as laptops as the
HP's are at desktops & servers - but It'll be a couple of years
before I have that report for you -

this Mac PB's been through a lot - but it's still kicking -

and - I donthave Etherpeek & InterMapper on Linux - but there are other
good networking tools!

mo later-

specific questions - send me an e-mail... - bill