t1's wan

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From: Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us>
Subject: Re: dumb terminals connection to remote host via dsl?
Date: Sun, 04 Feb 2001 19:56:48 -0800
References: <7juo7to7i90u4tj1ma4u0hltjhnll31o9a@4ax.com> <3A7C848C.1143096A@aplawrence.com> <u54p7t4c75tjnsjtvrh9irtotp7f103m5n@4ax.com> <3A7D376C.C25D20C6@aplawrence.com> <pe4r7t4ifhd3ojbo0ov8rpqh507jub0ml2@4ax.com> <3A7D9A69.6C18C734@aplawrence.com> <20010204130009.05204@tegan.com> <3ddr7t0s4falbljqspinjck0c2cl76kh42@4ax.com> <u2kr7t4i5njgpofm1hv8jf3b1l06eimbpd@4ax.com> 

On Sun, 04 Feb 2001 14:36:42 -0800, kewl <lrekow@nospam.pacbell.net>
wrote:

>still be able to use his dumb terminals and cut loose that landline
>expenditure of $700+ per month. 

Ouch.  A T1 with ISP service (Verio) costs about $800/month plus mileage
in Calif.  What manner of "landmine" is this overpriced mess?

>Currently I've been getting decent PC's for clients at $700 a copy;
>generic ones put together to my specs by my local independant computer
>store.  733mhz, 10 gig hard drive, 64 megs ram, and an Intel MB with
>built in network & soundcard & videocard, and 15 inch monitor.

Yeah, that's about right.  Some minor notes and ideas.

1.  Setup and run Wake on Lan for midnight virus scanning.  I tend to run
the NT server version of Norton Anti Virus ($1500 for 50 users) and
Veritas backup.  Leaving the machines running all night is power drain.
I use Wake on Lan to turn on the PC, let it boot, run the backup and the
virus scan, and then turn it off.

2.  Not everyone needs a $700 Windoze client or NC.  I use a substantial
number of telnet only clients of various denomination.  I've also built
my own using a floppy MSDOS 6.22, NCSA Telnet 2.3, and the Crywnr packet
drivers.  No hard disk needed (although it boots faster with a hard
disk).  I use old 486's and old laptops with this derrangement in
shipping and for cash registers.  The only downside is that the floppies
tend to mangled and takes a while to boot.
    http://huizen.dds.nl/~jacco2/samba/dos.html
Check the various links.

3.  I also have some machines that boot the MSDOS networking client
floppy (no hard disk required) and run their applications from the
server.  You don't need a WinPC or Thin Client to do this.
    http://www.bootdisk.com
If you wanna be lazy, Powerquest's Drive Image 5 program includes a
"wizard" to prepare such a floppy disk.  All you need are the NDIS
drivers for the ethernet card.  The big problem here is no long filename
support.

4.  I still have some clients running Windoze 3.1 and what used to be
called "GeoWorks" and is now called "New Deal".  It's an integrated
environment that looks something like Windoze without the bloat.  There's
a rather crude web browser, email, and the usual productivity stuff.
    http://www.NewDealInc.com

I tried to convince a few of my larger corporate customers to stay with
Windoze 3.11.  At first, they actually stuck with it.  This was about the
time the Pentium 233 was in fashion.  Performance was impressive,
especially with accellerated PCI video cards and 7200 rpm drives.  My
cost of ownership estimates and replacement and upgrade schedule turned
out to be quite accurate.  However, the plan was killed by something I
never expected.  The Palm Pilot arrived, and all the sales, management,
and janitorial personel bought them.  Windoze 95/98 only replication
software.  Windoze 3.11 went into the dumpster and Windoze 95 was
installed solely to communicate with the PDA's.  Oh well.

One of the truely weird things about Windoze 3.11 was how badly it worked
on the hardware that was in fashion in 1995 (Pentium 100 or 133 and PIO4
drives).  I was switching to Windoze 95 in the hope of getting improved
stability as Windoze 3.11 was always crashing.  Five years later, I drag
out the old Windoze 3.11, stick in the latest networking stuff developed
for NT4, load the same olde applications, but on new state-o-de-art
hardware, and suddenly, everything is stable and working.  Probably a
conspiracy.

Bottom line: You need need a $700 desktop.  However, to keep the peace,
you may need to buy 17" monitors (status symbol).

>Lastly, for this and other clients, who all still have dumb terminals
>around, I'm looking at ways of keeping a sort of backup solution, for
>times when the DSL goes down and i can let ppl dial in to some cheap
>modems i have setup to one of these serial port servers, etc. 

I'll assume that the DSL terminates at an ISP and that you're using the
internet for transport.  Therefore, your backup will also need to
terminate at an ISP (not necessarily the same ISP).

Rule-o-thumb.  Whenever you have more than one route to the internet, you
need some kind of routing protocol (RIP, RIP2, OSPF, IGRP, EIGRP, IS-IS,
BGP4, ad nausium).  I suggest using an ISDN dialup as backup to a
different ISP.  Even the cheapest ISDN routers (Netgear RH348) supports
RIP as will whatever unspecified router you use for your DSL connection.
Set up RIP so that the ISDN router path is more expensive than the DSL
route and it will dial and switch automagically if the DSL goes down.

Some of the latest crop of cheapo ethernet routers now include a built in
backup serial port which can be connected to a dialup POTS or ISDN modem.
The SMC Barricade and Ascante FriendlyNet boxes are examples that have
this nifty feature.  See:
   http://www.practicallynetworked.com/reviews/smc_7004br.asp
   http://www.smc.com/barricade/index.html
I haven't tested this feature yet and therefore don't know if it really
works or is infested with suprises.


-- 
Jeff Liebermann   jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
150 Felker St #D  Santa Cruz CA  95060
831-421-6491 pager   831-429-1240 fax
http://www.cruzio.com/~jeffl/sco/   SCO stuff

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