Dr. Payne started by saying that one thing that was unique is that the UC Riverside Computer Science department standardized on Linux 11 years ago and 3 years later started using Windows 4.0; and they support both Linux and Windows operating systems. Dr. Payne gave a short working biography. He started out with amateur craftsman activities such as hot rods, experimental aircraft, ham radios, birdhouses and radio controlled models in 1962. In 1964 he decided that telecommunications and the ability to work with computers from home to support massive projects was coming. In 1974 he believed that Unix was the obvious choice for a portable OS and in 1984 became very impressed with Stallman's Free Software Foundation (FSF). In 1986 he saw that Taiwan Inc. made the 386 the obvious choice for a CPU and in 1987 he was impressed by Multi-User Dungeon (MUD) development model. In 1990 UC Riverside bought 25 Mhz 486's to track UNIX for the x86 processors. In 1992 Linux arrived while Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) Unix was still under development.

They standardized on Linux in June 1993. A Linux system on a 66 Mhz 486 was able to do the job of a higher priced Sun Sparc LX. The X Window system was working and Network File System (NFS) and Windows Implementation on Unix (WINE) seemed close. A number of alternate x86 OS's were under development such as BSD, NT, NeXT step, Solaris X86 and Sprite. The first Linux lab was started in 1994, The lab used a small Sun quad-processor running SunOS for NFS, Network Information Service (NIS), Domain Name Server (DNS) and Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). There were sixteen 60Mhz Pentiums with Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), Video Random Access Memory (VRAM) Allied Telesyn International (ATI) video cards and 17 inch 1280x1024 monitors. NIS was not ready so they passed around password files. There was a lab with 40 NeXTs across the campus. In 1995 they gradually replaced SparcServer with ten Linux-based desktops. Failovers were not handled automatically and replacement parts were taken from student labs when required so downtime was not bad. Dr. Payne said that the SparcServer under Solaris was flaky, but that may have been because they were running very near disk capacity. They expanded to five 30-station Linux-based labs and the Faculty gradually switched from Suns to Linux. They added WindowsNT 4.0 in 1996 with a dual boot capability in all student labs and on most desktops. Windows supported a popular computer-literacy course and Computer Science 1 (CS1) was switched from Linux and the FSF's GNU tools to Visual C++ to reduce "tool shock" for beginning students. Users of Windows on student-lab machines were plagued by things (such as viruses) left by previous users. Application installation required rebooting 200 machines.

Current users include, 25 faculty using Macs, Windows, and Linux; 10 administrative staff using Windows on local files and accessing enterprise systems; 1000 majors using mostly Linux and 1000 enrollees in service courses using mostly Windows. These enrollees turn over each quarter and need accounts and card access to the labs for one quarter only. Current equipment includes 200 desktop PCs in faculty offices and research labs, mostly dedicated to a particular user, some Macs, and more Windows and Linux. 200 desktops in six student labs support all users and are almost all Linux. There is one Tbyte NetApp file server for NFS and Common Internet File System (CIFS). Five dual Xeon Windows2003 Terminal Servers, two Windows2003 domain controllers and ten Linux servers for a variety of processes. The servers and routers have gigabit connectivity and the routers have wire-speed Access Control Lists (ACL)s.

Current user service provides simultaneous access to both Linux and Windows environments on the same monitor. Both environments access the same files and facilities: Windows via CIFS and Samba, and Linux via NFS3. Both are remotely accessible: Windows via (Remote Desktop Protocol) RDP and Linux via Secure Shell (ssh) and (Supporting Collaborative process) scp with email by Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) and printing service via Common Unix Printing System (CUPS). Scanning services are routed by Optical Character Recognize (OCR) cover pages and there is both wired and wireless access to the Internet. Backups are done via rdiff-backup to low-load Linux NFS servers. Linux and Office are provided on the same screen and the capabilities have improved over the years.

There have been some recent problems. Linux NFS servers have been unstable under load and Network Appliances NetApp equipment has been used to resolve the problem. The Windows2003 Terminal Server system has been unstable under load during the first few weeks of each quarter this year and this is an open problem. Windows viruses have been a problem. Worms have been stopped by ACLs. NFS lacks security, but NFS4 should fix the problem. There is a scarcity of device drivers for Linux, especially USB devices such as scanners. This is an ongoing annoyance. There is interface bloat from creeping featurism in Visual Studio.NET so CS1 was moved back to Linux and GNU tools. There is a lack of a workalike for Microsoft Exchange on Linux. Perhaps the Kolab groupware project can help. There is a lack of certain applications under Linux, but this situation is improving. Current developments and trends include the BitTorrent installer for rapid reinstallation, upgrade to the 2.6 Linux kernel and thinner desktop clients, possibly diskless. There is a move to NSF4 and off-campus file access and to rack-mounted 1U dual 64-bit CPU servers. High-availability server clusters with automatic failover are expected to be implemented. UC Riverside has low hardware and software budgets but they get good prices on Microsoft software. They have 2 career systems administrators plus 3 half-time students. They do administration via homespun remote scripts, as they are faster and easier to use than commercial software. They are up continuously and are trying to shift their focus from infrastructure to information orientation. They are trying to move from being hacker/system administrators to Chief Information Officers (CIO)s.

Comparing Windows with Linux:
   • Administering small Windows installations requires less expertise and less reading of manuals.
   • Windows has a wider spectrum of drivers and applications.
   • Windows has better protection granularity.
   • RDP is way faster than the X-Window System on DSL
   • Windows has required more overhead per user-hour:
        - More security hassles (e.g., viruses)
        - Less stable (e.g., current Windows2003 TS problems)
        - Need to reboot on software installation (diminishing)
        - Less scriptable (e.g., relies on mouse-oriented tools)
        - Registry corruption (not designed for user migration)
        - Requires bigger, faster hardware for interactive performance.

Dr. Payne provided us with an excellent and very interesting description of the history of how UC Riverside developed their computer laboratory and use both Windows and Linux in a common environment. It was both very educational and a pleasure to get clear explanations of a wide range of hardware and software. He provided many interesting personal side remarks. His talk was more detailed and quite a bit smoother than the description that is provided above.

This was the ninth meeting of the LA Chapter year and was attended by about 21 persons.
Mike Walsh, LA ACM Secretary