[CS-FSLUG] Linux success story

[@ndrew]

> linux allows this to happen without disturbing a 
> user sitting the machine, so we used a desktop
> Linux PC at a site with fast internet connection.

It's always good to see Linux being applied to solve problems, rather than
start "my OS is better than your OS" arguments. ;-)

--
@ndrew
andrew at dothedrew.net
http://www.dothedrew.net

"No man has a good enough memory
to be a successful liar."
  Abraham Lincoln
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Christiansource-bounces at ofb.biz 
> [mailto:Christiansource-bounces at ofb.biz] On Behalf Of Frank Bax
> Sent: Tuesday, April 20, 2004 1:12 PM
> To: christiansource at ofb.biz
> Subject: [CS-FSLUG] Linux success story
> 
> Client has a rural remote office with an awful dialup 
> connection.  Neither ADSL nor cable are available.  User 
> (win98) must access web-based application on a daily basis.  
> One day I had an idea - would it be any faster if this user 
> used VNC to access a Linux machine behind ADSL router and 
> then access the web-based app from there?  Would sending a 
> 'picture' of a webpage be faster than accessing the actual 
> webpage over dialup?  I got the whole thing setup in an 
> afternoon late in March, then waited for feedback, which 
> turned out to be positive for unexpected reasons.  The data 
> entry time is about the same both ways, but user likes the 
> new way (via
> VNC) better.  Why?  Because when dialup connection is lost 
> and re-established (happens often), only her vnc connection 
> is now broken and her session within the web-based app 
> continues where she left off, without having to login to the 
> app again!
> 
> How does it work when both machines are behind dynamic ip addresses?
> The Linux machine (with vncserver installed) regularly 
> updates (using php
> script) a 'public' server with the external ip address of the 
> site's router.
> The Windows machine has a desktop shortcut to bat file with 
> two commands:
> a) Use lynx for windows to ask the 'public' server (php 
> script) for the ip address. Output is directed to replace 
> "c:\windows\hosts" file.
> b) Invoke vncviewer with hostname that was just updated into 
> hosts file.
> 
> The two php script's mentioned is actually a single script 
> with different
> (set/get) query options.
> 
> I've found a page that configures vnc to run as a window 
> manager - this will provide normal logon authentication, 
> which is on the todo list to replace the usual vnc setup.
> 
> This would not have worked with only windows machines because 
> vnc would 'takeover' the desktop of a windows machine running 
> vncserver - linux allows this to happen without disturbing a 
> user sitting the machine, so we used a desktop Linux PC at a 
> site with fast internet connection.
> 
> Frank 
> 
> 
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