Migration to Linux from W2K

[Striek]

I was wondering if anyone has an answer for this...

I am getting sick and tired of being sick and tired of windows and plan to migrate my network to Linux in the coming months. However I am running a home network with 5 users who would not be quite so happy with the inconvenience. I am looking to minimize the downtime caused by this.

I am currently running a dual boot between W2K Pro and W98, and will be removing W98 from the system. I need a way to install Red Hat 8 without bringing the net down and then slowly migrating to Linux as I learn its ins and outs.

I have stored all user files and configuration info on a third partition running NTFS and need those files to be available under Linux. There is a tuorial posted here regarding a dual W9x/Linux boot, however it did not mention anything about minimizing network downtime.

Please bear in mind that I have next to no experience with *nix systems. The whole purpose of this exercise is to gain that experience.

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.

[detoxsmurf]

I run a linux/windows LAN at my home. I have some family members that will probably stick with Microsoft and AOL for the rest of their life's.

I suggest setting one computer up as a linux workstation and play around with everything. You can run a Samba file sharing server on linux which works great with windows ME but not so great on W2k machines. I will also tell you that I have had no luck networking Lexmark printers with linux. If the printer is hooked up to the localhost, it works great. However over the network is another story. Oh and also make sure you download wineX. Wine lets you run windows programs on linux. I did a post a few weeks ago about running AOL on linux using wine.

Good Luck.

[KissCool]

The linux kernel doesn't read NTFS partitions by default, so you would have to recompile it with the good options, pretty nasty to begin into Linux. So I advise you to use a FAT32 for your third partition.

Or if you really want to use NTFS, I can try to retrieve this damn paper I used previously to do exactly the same thing.

EDIT:
ok, here are some links to you (it's not exactly what I used but I didn't retrieved it)
here is some infos about NTFS and the NTFS drivers.
here is a guide which explain you how to enable NTFS in your Linux kernel.
And finally here is a general but very useful page about the recompiling of the kernel.

[KissCool]

The linux kernel doesn't read NTFS partitions by default, so you would have to recompile it with the good options, pretty nasty to begin into Linux. So I advise you to use a FAT32 for your third partition.

Or if you really want to use NTFS, I can try to retrieve this damn paper I used previously to do exactly the same thing.

EDIT:
ok, here are some links to you (it's not exactly what I used but I didn't retrieved it)
here is some infos about NTFS and the NTFS drivers.
here is a guide which explain you how to enable NTFS in your Linux kernel.
And finally here is a general but very useful page about the recompiling of the kernel.

[slarty]

You can have read-only access to NTFS partitions easily enough on modern kernels. The problems start when you want write access.

As it's your user data, you probably want to write to this. Therefore, I'd recommend that ultimately they are migrated to a different partition.

What are the users using the machine for? I assume they are accessing it from their own machines which you plan to leave running Windows. Samba works fine as a Windows file server (and in contrary to what detoxsmurf says it works fine with win2k too).

If they use any M$ specific protocols and such like then you could be in trouble. M$ internet connection sharing actually isn't a proprietry protocol, but rather a bunch of standard ones cobbled together with a single control panel (To the best of my knowledge). You can replace it with a Linux server but you will need some routing plus DHCP.

If you're using the box as a gateway to the internet your biggest problem may be that you're using a weird broadband connection. Although many use Ethernet, some use weird stuff like PPP over Ethernet, PPP over ATM, etc. Also some require peculiar hardware (f.e. USB comms devices) to be supported. There is Linux support for some of these but it depends on which specific one you're using.

[slarty]

You can have read-only access to NTFS partitions easily enough on modern kernels. The problems start when you want write access.

As it's your user data, you probably want to write to this. Therefore, I'd recommend that ultimately they are migrated to a different partition.

What are the users using the machine for? I assume they are accessing it from their own machines which you plan to leave running Windows. Samba works fine as a Windows file server (and in contrary to what detoxsmurf says it works fine with win2k too).

If they use any M$ specific protocols and such like then you could be in trouble. M$ internet connection sharing actually isn't a proprietry protocol, but rather a bunch of standard ones cobbled together with a single control panel (To the best of my knowledge). You can replace it with a Linux server but you will need some routing plus DHCP.

If you're using the box as a gateway to the internet your biggest problem may be that you're using a weird broadband connection. Although many use Ethernet, some use weird stuff like PPP over Ethernet, PPP over ATM, etc. Also some require peculiar hardware (f.e. USB comms devices) to be supported. There is Linux support for some of these but it depends on which specific one you're using.

[detoxsmurf]

Perhaps I should clarify what I meant with the samba server. Mandrake 8.2 running a current samba RPM installation will not detect a w2k box on the network through the mandrake control center. However, it has no problem detecting older versions of windows on the network. That's not to say its not possible to share files with a W2K server. Mandrake tech support blamed it on Microsoft and told me to wait until the newest release of samba. If other users have been able to do it, I have no doubt about it. I'm just going on my own past experience.

[detoxsmurf]

Perhaps I should clarify what I meant with the samba server. Mandrake 8.2 running a current samba RPM installation will not detect a w2k box on the network through the mandrake control center. However, it has no problem detecting older versions of windows on the network. That's not to say its not possible to share files with a W2K server. Mandrake tech support blamed it on Microsoft and told me to wait until the newest release of samba. If other users have been able to do it, I have no doubt about it. I'm just going on my own past experience.

[Striek]

I guess I too, should have been more specific. The machine being converted to Linux is serving as a gateway for two other systems with local addresses, one running W2K and the other WMX. So I will be running a Linux server serving two Windows clients. Unfortunately the OS on these systems is not at my discrescion as they are not mine. Filesharing is not so much of an issue as connection sharing is, as my ISP does not allow us to have more than one IP. Although stealing one from them is not difficult, for obvious reasons I would rather avoid it. There is no server software on my machine other than W2K; the other systems are simply connected via a second ethernet card and hub with ICS enabled.

To give an example of how little I know in this matter, I was unaware that *nix could read/write to a FAT32 partition.l Converting from NTFS is not a big problem, however.

I should have also asked -- any suggestions as to which front end to use? I am leaning towards Red Hat mainly because it appears to be well suited to the newbie with a well developed GUI. I need an interface with a good, easy-to-understand GUI to get the system up and running. I also am looking for advice on filesharing software and ICS software.

Many thanks...

[Striek]

I guess I too, should have been more specific. The machine being converted to Linux is serving as a gateway for two other systems with local addresses, one running W2K and the other WMX. So I will be running a Linux server serving two Windows clients. Unfortunately the OS on these systems is not at my discrescion as they are not mine. Filesharing is not so much of an issue as connection sharing is, as my ISP does not allow us to have more than one IP. Although stealing one from them is not difficult, for obvious reasons I would rather avoid it. There is no server software on my machine other than W2K; the other systems are simply connected via a second ethernet card and hub with ICS enabled.

To give an example of how little I know in this matter, I was unaware that *nix could read/write to a FAT32 partition.l Converting from NTFS is not a big problem, however.

I should have also asked -- any suggestions as to which front end to use? I am leaning towards Red Hat mainly because it appears to be well suited to the newbie with a well developed GUI. I need an interface with a good, easy-to-understand GUI to get the system up and running. I also am looking for advice on filesharing software and ICS software.

Many thanks...