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2 Connecting 1 (2001-2002)

handle is hein.lbr/aallcssis0002 and id is 1 raw text is: Connecting...
The Newsletter of Computing Services SIS
11.777                American Association of Law Libraries
TRIALS OF A LINUX DABBLER
By Glenn Goodspeed

I got this loud buzzing in my ears a
couple of years ago. When I listened, it
was saying Linuxxxxx, Linuxxxxx.
Never one to ignore such signs, I began
to read newspaper and magazine
stories with similar words in the title.
Wow, turns out Linux is a free
computer operating system. Not only
that, users are encouraged to do things
strictly prohibited in the licenses for
most other software: distribute,
decompile, reverse-engineer, and lots of
other things that no one does anyway, or
so I thought.
Turns out there are thousands of geeks
out there messing around with this free
software, refining it and adding more
pieces to it. Some are even making
money selling applications to run on it.
As a technology director for a law
school, I immediately understood the
value of free software, and I immedi-
ately feared that someone would ask me
to deploy it.
I decided the best way to learn about
this stuff would be to use it for some-
thing. But what? I wasn't about to take
down my Microsoft network just to try
something new, and our e-mail and web
servers were running fine. Then it came
to me one evening after the usual
conversation with my wife in our
computer room at home:
Me: Would you disconnect, please, so I
can get my e-mail?
Carolyn: Just a minute. I'm in the

middle of something.
Me (looking at her monitor): You can
continue shopping for curtains in five
minutes.
Carolyn (peeved): Oh, all right.
Carolyn and I both have Microsoft
Windows computers, and we have them
networked together, but we had only
one Internet dialup account, so it took
this sort of negotiation almost every
evening for us to use the Internet. The
project crystallized. I would load Linux
on an old computer and use it to dial up
our Internet provider. I would put the
Linux machine on our home network
and use it to route traffic from both our
PCs to the Internet. Further, I would
find out how to use the Linux machine
as a firewall. Then, when DSL service
made it to our neighborhood, I'd be all
ready to hook up. One more thing -- it
had to be simple enough that Carolyn
would not have to learn anything to turn
it on and off.
I went to the bookstore and browsed for
Linux books, thinking I would pick up
one book that would tell me all about
Linux. Well, there must be hundreds of
books about Linux, each with its own
angle. I narrowed it down to books that
covered the basics and included
information about using Linux for an
Internet router. I finally purchased Red
Hat Linux 6 in Small Business by Paul
G. Sery and Eric Harper, mainly
because Red Hat seems to be the most
popular brand of Linux. Also, the book
(Continmed on page 2)

Volume 2, Issue 1
December, 2001
In This Issue:
Trials of a Linux      I
Dabbler
Preparing Faculty for  4
Online Teaching
Why I Applied...The 5
CS-SIS Annual Meeting
Attendance Grant
Call For Papers       6
From The Chair        7
2002 CS-SIS Breakfast  7
at the Orlando AALL
Annual Meeting
A Sample Strategic    8
Computer Technology
Plan
New U.S. Code at      9
Cornell
On the Front Lines     /O
*Our thoughts and prayers *
* are with the many of you *
*who were involved with  *
* the September I I th   *
*tragedy. We hope you
find
* strength
and
* comfort.
*********

AL

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