[buug] Linux Security Site

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Zeke Krahlin (ezekielk at iname.com):

> Linux might shine as a fully functioning network system...but those aren't 
> the clients I work with: I work strictly with stand-alone PCs, most at 
> people's homes...where they don't *want a network. Other than the Internet, 
> of course.

What they "want" is based on what they're familiar with.  Having been a
consultant, I know that your value lies in guiding the customer to what
will benefit him best in his circumstances.  If you _don't_ do that,
you're not really a consultant, only a technician.

Clients told me they "wanted" me to install NT-based firewalls, become
an MCSE, and such.  I said no.  

So:  One of the places where you have to say no is where the customer
says he cannot conceive of having more than one computer because he has,
after all, one computer, one car, one religion, one political
affiliation, etc.  This mindset stands in the way of the customer coming
into the modern age and enjoying the benefits of the last thirty years
of computer science.  

If such a hypothetical customer refuses to budge from this blinkered
mindset, then I doubt he would benefit from Linux.  You would do neither 
him nor the Linux community nor yourself any benefit by assisting him in 
cramming Linux into a Windows-sized box.  I strongly advise you against
doing that.

> ...but the only way I'd do that, space-wise, is to share one monitor
> and modem between the two. 

I see no problem, here.  Put the modem on the Linux box, and run it
"headless" (no monitor).  It could even be in your closet.  Let the
Linux box run your Internet connectivity for both boxes, running IP
masquerading (Network Address Translation) and the Squid Web cached.

> I already have a split cable for the modem, but I'd need one for 
> the monitor, too.

No.  Wrong.

You appear to suffer from a bit of a case of one-computer disease
yourself, Zeke.  A bit too long on legacy Microsoft OSes will do that to
you.

> Well, at *least my Windoze98 and Mandrake 6.1 reside on separate hard 
> drives.

http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/faq/#partition

-- 
Cheers,                Linux:  It is now safe to turn on your computer.
Rick Moen
rick (at) linuxmafia.com