[kwlug-disc] What's the best desktop distribution?

[Khalid Baheyeldin]

The reason I do "all this" is that I manage headless servers, some hosted as
far away as London, UK, Connecticut, New York, Missouri, ...etc.

There is no GUI on any of them. Running X and a desktop is a waste of
resources on a server. The RAM usage and complexity is better used somewhere
else.

Everything is via ssh.

For desktops (Kubuntu, Ubuntu, ..etc.), yes there is a widget that grabs
your attention when updates are pending and you just click it, press a
coupld of buttons and you are up to date.

Still, if you manage lots of desktops, you may do it either way: let the
user click the widget, or you may want to install openssh-server on each of
them and manage the updates remotely.

On Thu, Feb 4, 2010 at 11:16 AM, Insurance Squared Inc. <
gcooke at insurancesquared.com> wrote:

>  You folks do all this?
>
> Like I posted before, I've got an applet that runs on my desktop that turns
> red when there are updates.  I click on it, and it updates (I get to see the
> list first).
>
> Yes, it can all be done automatically in other ways, but the way mandriva
> does it suits perfectly for a desktop user.  It completely seperates the
> 'how' from the 'do'.
>
> And since I run the same distro on my desktop as I do my servers, whenever
> I do a desktop upgrade, I just hop onto the server and type 'drakconf' from
> the command line and I've got the same upgrade process, just minus the red
> alert.
>
> I can't imagine doing it any other way now.  I get automatic updates,
> without having to think about how it happens, and the ability to select what
> packages I want to upgrade, and when.
>
> (and btw, not that an end user cares, but during the installation, it
> automatically grabs the mirror nearest me and uses that repository.  And
> since I'm a paid subscriber I've got access to some additional repositories,
> and it sets those up automatically during the install as well. )
>
>
>
>
>
> john at netdirect.ca wrote:
>
> kwlug-disc-bounces at kwlug.org wrote on 02/04/2010 10:48:23 AM:
>
>
>  One might argue that there is separate software for that in Windows.
> Windows SMS, or MOM (is it?) And there are 3rd party packages. Those,
>
>
>  also
>
>
>  provide monitoring for patches and AV updates. The Linux package
>
>
>  managers
>
>
>  don't monitor.
>
>
>  They can be set to update automatically.
>
> Just put this in cron.
>
> aptitude update && aptitude -y safe-upgrade
>
> However, as you said, I like to see what changed and decide to update
> when it is convenient for the client (and for me), not blindly go and
>
>
>  update.
>
>
>  There is also apticron, which I use on all our servers and for client
>
>
>  servers.
>
>
>  It runs once a day overnight and reports back if there are any
> updates pending,
> in an email.
>
>
>  Automating update attempts is easy enough. Knowing if they are successful
> is another thing. The email reports are easy to do, but it's hard to get a
> quick view of the current state, it would require sifting through
> potentially lots of email.
>
> I'm playing a devil's advocate here and posing comments as MS-oriented
> admins might. And it doesn't really matter. There are proprietary tools
> that work with MS and Linux to monitor and update. Some of these tools are
> pretty slick in that they know which updates are needed for Windows. It's
> something that would require monitoring MS patches and writing custom
> Nagios configs for otherwise.
>
>
> John Van Ostrand
> Net Direct Inc.
>
> CTO, co-CEO
> 564 Weber St. N. Unit 12
> map
>
> Waterloo, ON N2L 5C6
>  john at netdirect.ca
> Ph: 866-883-1172
> ext.5102
> Linux Solutions / IBM Hardware
> Fx: 519-883-8533
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________kwlug-disc_kwlug.org mailing listkwlug-disc_kwlug.org at kwlug.orghttp://astoria.ccjclearline.com/mailman/listinfo/kwlug-disc_kwlug.org
>
>
> --
> Glenn Cooke
> Insurance Squared Inc.
> (866) 779-1499www.insurancesquared.com
>
> Insurance Agent Discussion Forum:www.americaninsurancebroker.com
>
>
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>
>


-- 
Khalid M. Baheyeldin
2bits.com, Inc.
http://2bits.com
Drupal optimization, development, customization and consulting.
Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. --  Edsger W.Dijkstra
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. --   Leonardo da Vinci
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