[11698] in Athena Bugs
Your comments about the Resnet project, Athena, Linux, etc...
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Michael L. Barrow)
Fri Feb 4 04:00:04 1994
Date: Fri, 4 Feb 1994 03:58:32 -0500
To: ongg@MIT.EDU
From: mlbarrow@MIT.EDU (Michael L. Barrow)
Cc: resnet-planning@MIT.EDU, bugs@MIT.EDU, dcns-support@MIT.EDU,
Mr. Ongg:
I am writing in response to your message of 3 February 1994 sent to the
bugs@mit.edu mailing list (ticket number 1341). Below, please see my
responses interspersed with your original mail message:
>From: ongg@MIT.EDU
>To: bugs@MIT.EDU
>Date: Thu, 03 Feb 94 17:04:18 EST
>
>Hi. It is ridiculous that athena is pushing resnet yet is not supporting
>Linu>x.All or most of the athena programs out for Linux are produced by sipb,
>and
>the AFS to NFS translator is not even working properly (for writing at least)
Due to its immaturity, it is infeasible for Information Systems to utilize
limited resources to support Linux at this time. Furthermore, there is no
single organization that is responsible for the maintenance and
distribution of the entire Linux operating system (excluding the core
kernel). This matter is further complicated by the fact that there exists a
number of different flavors of Linux floating around the Internet.
The AFS to NFS translator was never intended to be used in a serious
production environment. It is my understanding that it exists as a
convenience to Cray users. It is not durable enough to withstand the same
usage as that of our central fileservers. Simply stated: it is not the
model for file system access currently supported in the Athena Computing
Environment.
>Resnet is advertised as a system that will enable students to do coursework
>from their own home. But what is on the DOS platform? No UNIX software, no
>UNIX support, etc. If Linux were supported as an athena platform, people
>would be more willing to join resnet, and they wouldn't have to telnet to
>athena.
Information Systems never stated that an immediate result of the Resnet
project would be the ability for students to use courseware from within
their residences. In fact, I stated in the Resnet FAQ (August 1993) that
most educational software available on Athena worksations is not available
on Macintoshes and PCs:
*) Will I be able to get Athena service with Resnet from my room?
If you buy an Athena workstation, you will have access to the
same Athena services available through the machines in public Athena
clusters with the possible exception of a very few cases where our
software licenses restrict use to MIT owned machines.
If you use a Macintosh or PC, you will have access to a subset
of the Athena services available through the traditional Athena
workstations. Most of the educational software available on Athena is
not available on Macintoshes or PCs.
Your point about the scarcity of DOS/Windows applications is a valid one.
However, you should be aware that DOS/Windows development has been and
continues to be very active. Earlier this academic year, we released a
comprehensive TCP/IP stack for DOS/Windows (Novell LAN Workplace for DOS),
TechMail/Win, as well as the Kerberos infrastructure for DOS/Windows. In
addition, there are a number of 3rd party applications such as NNTP,
Gopher, and WWW clients supported. We expect a suite of DOS/Windows
applications, comparable to the current Macintosh suite, to be available by
September 1994 as stated in the August 1993 version of the Resnet FAQ.
I would welcome any information that you have to support your claim that
"people would be more willing" to connect to MITnet from their residences
with Linux as a supported platform. It is my opinion that a large portion
of the student body would not have the hardware, interest, or technical
savvy to install, configure, and maintain their own Unix-based computer
system. I gather this knowledge from the four years of computer support
that I have provided at MIT in combination with first-hand accounts of
instances in which students' machines simply did not have the raw CPU
power, disk capacity, or RAM to support a "useable" Linux configuration.
>I know, people with resnet are not supposed to dial up to athena, but I know
>many people who do, simply because the software on the DOS platform does not
>satisfy their needs.
We are not forcing users to use native clients. We are merely suggesting
that they use them whenever possible as these clients provide for a more
efficient and scalable solution to distributed computing. From the user's
perspective, native clients are faster and more flexible than those
available via a telnet session on a crowded dialup host.
>I use Linux, and I know that Linux is used on campus, enough to warrant
>the creation of mit.os.linux. I barely telnet to athena, except for the
>most esoteric uses (for instance, programs in /mit/consult) because
>Linux and Sipb's support of it lets me zephyr, email, rn, etc. at home.
>
>Please respond. Thank you.
>Jay Ongg
>
I hope that I have been able to provide you with a better understanding of
all the factors that would be involved in a decision to support the Linux
operating system. I also hope that I was able to accurately represent our
DOS/Windows strategy. If you have any additional questions or comments,
please feel free to contact me.
-- Michael L. Barrow
Network Analyst/Resnet Support Coordinator
MIT Distributed Computing and Network Services
Director, Boston Computer Society Internet SIG
