What can you do on PCs that you think can't be done with Network Computers?
Send questions to me, Brian Fristensky (frist@cc.umanitoba.ca).

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1. COMPATIBILITY WITH THE REST OF THE WORLD
1. We need PCs, because we need to train our students on a platform they will use in the real world.
2. Isn't Unix too hard for most people to use?
3. What are the drawbacks of the Windows user interface?
4. What are the drawbacks of Unix window managers?
5. Don't I need a PC to use the Internet (email, Web, downloads etc.)?
6. There isn't any good software for Unix.
7. But aren't laptops the wave of the future?
2. POWER AND AUTONOMY
1. Won't I be at the mercy of the system? If the system crashes, nobody can do anything.
2. Isn't the file server the weak link in the chain?
3. With all those users, won't the server run like a pig?
4. What if I want to install a program that's not on the system?
5. The NC model may be fine for the casual user who does word processing and email, but I do a lot of high powered number crunching. What's in it for me?
3. TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP
1. We just spent tens of thousands of dollars on new PCs and Novell servers. Won't we lose that investment if we switch to the NC model?
2. But aren't Unix servers a lot more expensive than PCs?"
4. HARDWARE
1. What if the server breaks down?
2. My terminal doesn't have a floppy disk drive. What if I want to write a disk?
3. What if my terminal breaks down?
4. I'm doing just fine with my IBM-XT, thank you very much.
5. Can an X-terminal play and record audio?
6. How about video?
7. How about laboratory equipment?
8. Can I hook up a printer to my X-terminal?
9. Can the screen of an NC be displayed using a video projector?

We need PCs, because we need to train our students on a platform they will use in the real world.

1. First of all, lets have a reality check. There are probably very few businesses that put up with the degree of obsolescence that is chronic in our student computers. As a general rule, students get the cheapest, oldest computers, and use software written for the home computer market, rather than professional, commerical applications.
2. There's more to the "real world" than just DOS and MS-Windows. In most areas of industry, multiuser systems have always been a fact of life. If all students see is the PC/DOS/Windows model, they are getting a very skewed view of what computing in the real world is really like.
3. In Linux, Windows applications can be run under WINE. which runs unmodified Windows applications by translating Windows  calls into machine instructions (http://www.winehq.com). Wine isavailable for Solaris, Linux and FreeBSD. The truely amazing thing about WINE is that it usually runs quite smoothly. The downside is that you are guaranteed to take a big performance hit by running wine, because the already bloated Windows apps have to go through an additional software layer to run. Therefore,  WINE is probably best on a standalone workstation, rather than on a mutliuser system.
4. Finally, the "real world" is likely to be switching to the NC model in the next few years. Many companies and government installations have already begun making the switch. It can be argued that we should be turning out graduates who have trained on the cutting edge, and bring innovation to the workplace. Wouldn't it look good for the University if businesses all across Manitoba began saving money by switching to the NC model, at the suggestion of their U. of M. hirees?

Isn't Unix too hard for most people to use? This is a fallacy for several reasons:

• Graphic user interfaces (GUI) were invented in Unix. Specifically the GUI was invented at Xerox PARC in the early 1980's, and have been available on most Unix systems since that time. were popularized on  Macintosh and Windows platforms. On Unix systems, there is a large selection of GUI/desktops/window managers that provide a user friendly point and click interface. If you're used to MS-Windows, you'll feel at home with CDE, the Common Desktop Environment.

• Many aspects of Unix graphic user interfaces make them easier than their Windows or Mac counterparts.
• Although MacOS puts lots of windows on the screen, it still forces the user into a "one window owns the screen" mode. When you move from one window to another, the menu at the top of the screen switches to the application that the cursor is on. Unfortunately, most of these screentop menu bars look almost identical, so it's not always obvious that you've moved. On Unix desktops, menus are attached to their applications, or occupy independent windows that can all be on the screen simultaneously.
• Also, in MacOS, you have to find an icon  in a folder to launch a program, whereas on Unix desktops, you can launch most X11 applications from a hierarchical workspace menu (borrowed by Microsoft in the form of the Win95 START button).
• The typical Windows desktop is a sea of icons. The more apps you have installed, the more desktop real estate is taken up by icons. Then when you launch an app, it takes up even more space on the bar at the bottom of the screen. Only a handful of apps can fit onto this bar. The desktop is a workspace. Unix desktops tend to be free of clutter, with icons only appearing when an app is running. Many Unix desktops add to screen real estate by creating 'virtual desktops'. You can move from one desktop to another at the click of a mouse.
• In both MacOS and Windows applications, you are typically forced to start looking for files in a directory specific for a given program eg. Adobe Photoshop. Windows and Mac force most users to organize their files by program, rather than by topic.
• The thing that has always annoyed me about PC platforms is the relative lack of a command line interface, totally absent on MacOS and only available in a pathetically limited sense through DOS. There are endless cases in which a command line interface is far easier to use than a GUI.
• Under Unix, any user can login to a Unix server from anywhere in the world and do just about anything. A system administrator can log in and fix problems without physically going to a Unix box. No such capability exists in MacOS, and WindowsNT  only allows a few tasks, such as printing or file tasks (remove, rename etc.) remotely.
• On PCs, when a program freezes, it freezes the whole system. You have to reboot. On a Unix system, if a program freezes, it seldom affects other windows on the desktop. The program can easily be canceled and restarted.
It is possible to go on and on about the differences of the various interfaces, but I just wanted to make the point that GUIs in Unix are no less user-friendly than on other platforms.
 
• Ease of use should include how much time you have to spend fighting with the system to get things to work. In most workplaces, computer difficulties have replaced the weather as the cheif topic of conversation. Everyone thinks they're an expert, and the result is Windows and Mac systems that constantly have to be tinkered with to fix the problems that were introduced when a previous problem was fixed. When several users use the same PC, any user can make a change that will affect others. PC users take it for granted that they will have to reboot at least once a day. This is easy?

In fairness, there's room for improvement in Unix window managers  and in X11, the software layer that orchestrates what you see on the screen.
 

• Not all aspects of the look and feel of graphic interfaces are consistent. This is because, unlike Windows and Macintosh, there is no single set of software development standards. In Unix, there are a number of toolkits for GUIs (eg. GTK) , about 20 different window managers (eg. CDE, KDE, OpenWindows) and no one company that calls the shots. Furthermore, most Unix window managers are highly configureable (eg. www.themes.org). The downside is that things don't always work the same way from system to system. For example, X11  has a clipboard that holds the text result of a copy or cut.  (The contents of the clipboard, containing the mostrecent piece of text, can be viewed using 'xclipboard'.) However, it is up to the individual developer to decide how, or if the application program will use the clipboard. Applications that do use the clipboard allow cutting and pasting between apps. eg. WordPerfect, Netscape.

There isn't any good software for Unix.  This is becomming a pretty thin argument. It is still true that software vendors have often developed for Windows only because other systems had too small a market share. Increasingly, there actually is quite a lot of software available under Unix, which has made it practical for me to run my own lab without PCs. Frankly, we don't miss PCs. On our local Sun system, we have a large suite of programs for just about any purpose:

• Academic Computing and Networking Software List
• X-windows Software summary

• Using BIRCH under X-windows
• Molecular Biology Software List

• Sun Solutions Catalogue

• The Java Solution Guide

Won't I be at the mercy of the system? If the system crashes, nobody can do anything.
There's some truth in that, but all things considered, an NC user on a competently-administered Unix system will have far less downtime than a typical PC user.

• Unix is far more reliable than any PC system. It is almost impossible for a user to crash a Unix system. Unix has always been a multiuser system with robust memory protection, virtual memory, preemptive multitasking, and security. Typically, the only reason a server goes down is for hardware upgrades or hardware problems. Aside from the operating system itself, most software can be installed and upgraded without rebooting the system. If you type 'rup' on a Unix box, you get a list of servers on the local network, showing how long each has been running. The up times are usually measured in weeks or months (or even years). What's amazing is that people who use nothing but PCs seem to accept it as normal that their system will freeze up several times per week or even per day!
• Multiuser systems usually have a lot of redundancy. The NC model is almost always implemented with multiple identically-configured servers. If one server is down, simply log into another. Your files are remotely-mounted to all servers from a central file server. In my own experience, I have been virtually entirely dependent on the Univ. of Manitoba Unix system since 1990. I can't cite a specific number of hours of down time over those years because they have happened so infrequently, and have been of such short duration, that I have trouble remembering specific down times. I can say that over that time, I have not once experienced a situation analogous to the commonplace PC dilemma, in which a mysterious problem prevents a person from getting anything done for a day or more, with full recovery of capabilities taking days or even weeks.
• As PCs become more networked, everyone will depend on the network. More and more of the things you do on a PC depend on the network, so the difference between PCs and NCs, in this regard, is quickly becomming moot. Perhaps the difference is that, with a multiuser system, problems are discovered more quickly, and there is more incentive to get things back up quickly, BECAUSE so many people depend on it. If your PC filesystem  becomes corrupted late at night, you have to wait until the next day for your LAN manager to help you get things back into shape. Large multiuser systems typically have system administrators on duty 24 hours. When they fix something, it's fixed for everyone.

Isn't the file server the weak link in the chain?  Because this is true in principle,  professionally administered systems usually invest a big chunk of their capital in highly reliable file server hardware and backup systems. On our system, files are accessed from an Auspex network file server, rated for one hour or less downtime per year. Reliability is obtained through features such as  redundant storage of data through RAID technology, redundant network interfaces, multiple CPUs, hot-pluggable disk drives, and automated backups. Remember, the hard drive on your PC is probably the cheapest one the manufacturer could install. Which do you think is more reliable, your PC hard drive, or a high-end file server?

What if I want to install a program that's not on the system?

Unix users can write or install their own programs. For some commercial applications, it may be necessary to ask a system administrator to help. Also, remember that ACN does have a budget for acquiring new software. If the program you need isn't on the system, maybe they'll buy it and install it. It can't hurt to ask! To cite a concrete example, the BIRCH system provides state of the art molecular biology computing services to over 140 researchers and students here at the Univ. of Manitoba. I have built and maintained this system for years with a regular user account. I do not have root privileges, and no other capabilities that are not shared by every other user on the system.

The NC model may be fine for the casual user who does word processing and email, but I do a lot of high powered number crunching. What's in it for me?

If you do really CPU intensive work, you are probably going to buy a workstation anyway. Here's a suggestion. Instead of putting the workstation on your desktop, where you have to do all the administration, let ACN administer it for you, as a clone of the regular ACN servers. That way, you'll have the full NC environment on your desktop, via your NC, plus, you can run CPU intensive applications on your own server, with no competition from other users for resources.

With all those users, won't the server run like a pig? I  can only speak from experience. We do all our computing on a Sun Ultrasparc server, shared among several labs. During the day users are running Web browsers, graphics programs, word processors, DNA sequence analysis programs etc. simultaneously. As a general rule, we don't notice that there are other users on the system.Our public campus servers typicaly have even higher user to CPU  ratios, and performance is typically good on those. A multiuser system can give you better performance than a PC as long as you have enough memory and a high enough CPU to user ratio. The point is that on a per user basis, it is cheaper to provide an given level of performance on a multiuser server than it is on an equivalent number of PCs. Also, with a powerful server, the power is there when you need it.

We just spent tens of thousands of dollars on new PCs and Novell servers. Won't we lose that investment if we switch to the NC model?

No. The LAN servers can be switched over to NT servers, to run Windows applications via NCD's Wincentre Conversion of these LAN servers into NT servers preserves, or perhaps enhances the value of this investment. There are a number of MS-Windows packages that can be installed on existing PCs that effectively let the PC act as an X terminal.

But aren't Unix servers a lot more expensive than PCs?

What if the server breaks down?

Just log in to another server. Your files will still be there, and your session will run the same regardless of which machine you are logged into.

My terminal doesn't have a floppy disk drive. What if I want to write a disk?

First ask yourself, do I really need to write a disk? The vast majority of the time, files can be sent across the internet by email or FTP instantaneously. Surface mail is slow. With a networked system, there is no need to write files to disk to bring home at night. Just go home, and if the mood strikes to work on something, simply login and download the file, or run an X11 session from home and work on it without downloading! Another advantage is that you don't have to anticipate the need to bring home a file, and you don't need to go to the trouble of writing it to diskette. After all that, if you still need to write to a diskette, simply find a PC and download the file to a diskette. You really shouldn't need to do this often.

What if my terminal breaks down?

Plug in another terminal and get back to work. Your files are all still intact on the system, and everything is still configured. Imagine what would happen if your PC broke down! Files need to be recovered (if they were backed up). Software needs to be re-installed and reconfigured. It may be weeks before you're working normally again.

I'm doing just fine with my IBM-XT, thank you very much. Not being in the Internet is nothing to be proud of. Until you begin using the Internet on a routine basis, you really can't appreciate how far out of the loop you are falling, in almost every field. Besides, it you are still using such an old machine, its probably because you want to spend as little as possible on computing, and make your purchase last as long as possible. In that case, the NC is perfect for you.

Can an X-terminal play and record audio?

Yes. NCD terminals allow you to plug in the same speakers and microphones that are used with PCs. Click here for more information.

How about video?

NCs are usually optimized to do graphics very quickly. In particular, the NCD HMX terminals now have 64-bit architecture. MPEG movies are no problem.

How about laboratory equipment?

In principle, any serial device can be hooked up to an X-terminal. Since each serial port has its own IP address, it could be run from anywhere, simply by logging into your Unix account. In practice, it's hard to say what complexities may be involved in running laboratory devices that are sold to be run from PCs. In the short term, this may be one area where you'll need a dedicated PC. In the longer term, as more and more electronic devices begin to be driven by JAVA software, they may become easier to run in an NC environment, than on a PC.

Can I hook up a printer to my X-terminal?

Yes. In fact, most NCs have serial ports that can be used for many different types of serial devices. The beauty of this is that each serial port has its own IP address, so it can be used by any authorized user, anywhere on the system.On the other hand, part of the savings associated with Network Computing comes from the sharing of peripheral devices. It's worth taking a good hard look at how badly you need to have a printer on your desktop. That money could be spent elsewhere.

Can the screen of an NC be displayed using a video projector?

It's as easy as pie. Bring your X-terminal to any lecture theatre with ethernet and a high-resolution video projector. Lecture theatres so equipped can be found in Agriculture, Armes, Fletcher Argue, and in Basic Medical Sciences on the Bannatyne Campus. There are probably more sites that I don't know about. All my lectures in Introductory Cytogenetics are done using an X-terminal.
 

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