Re: Command Line Interface

From: Alan Connor (zzzzzz_at_xxx.yyy)
Date: 10/02/04 

Date: Sat, 02 Oct 2004 17:34:37 GMT

On Sat, 02 Oct 2004 14:00:01 GMT, GreyGeek <jkreps@neb.rr.com>
wrote:

> Alan Connor wrote:
>
>> On 1 Oct 2004 19:18:11 -0700, saras
>> <abhishek_saraswati@yahoo.com> wrote:

<snip>

>
> That is an exact outlne of a one page bash script I wrote for a
> SUSE 6.4 box that was attached to two phones in roll over. The
> box received tax return files from the IRS and allowed users
> with passwords to log into their account, and either 1) change
> account password (but not accounts), 2) download new files 3)
> download old files, 4) quit. The script was put in etc/skel so
> that when the operator added a new account that script was the
> login script for that account.
>
> The previous 'solution' was Win98 + WildCat 4.5

M$ BBS. No longer being maintained.

> running on
> a P500 Dell box with 256MB of RAM and two 4GB drives. It
> crashed often, from once to several times a day. It couldn't
> be trusted to run over night or on weekends because of the
> crashing. The IT dept had replaced the box several times,
> upgraded Win98 with every patch MS had, and consulted with
> WildCat, who blamed MS. The IT dept was rapidly pro MS and it
> was in deparation that the boss told them to come to me and ask
> me to set up a Linux solution. Instead of that P500 + 256MB
> box which they were using, they could only 'scrap up' a P75
> with 64MB of RAM and two 1GB HDs. I used 1 bash script and two
> Python scrips, each less than a page long. The python scripts
> were the ones that recieved the IRS files and then distributed
> them. They were not combined because their functions were
> needed at different times. I installed everything but the
> /home account on hda, and /home on hdb. During the demo,
> with the boss and the IT folks standing around watching, the
> hdb died. I happend to be logged in as root at the time, and
> ReiserFS handled it gracefully, to everyone's amazement! The
> bad hdb was quickly replaced with a new one and folks watched
> as I formtted it and made it /home, and then created a new
> account to play with besides root. To add to that, while I was
> continuing the app one of the IT boys asked "what happens if
> the power goes off?" I reached over and hit the power button,
> turning the box off without shutting down. I wanted a few
> seconds while folks stood with mouths agap, and then retored
> power. ReiserFS picked up the abend and replayed some journal
> entries, restoring the system to pristine condition in just a
> few seconds.

Wish I'd of been there! :-)

>
> When the boss saw that he told the IT folks to stop messing
> around and give me anything I wanted. I told them the P75 +
> 64MB of RAM and two 1GB HDs were just fine.

Yeh! Rub it in Billy Boy's face!

> I was done. The
> system was setup. All I needed to do was show the operator
> what the two phython scripts expected her to do.
>
> The gal who was responsible for running the system was
> concerned that Linux would be different and harder to use than
> Windows, which she was familiar with. I had set up the SUSE
> box to run KDE 1.1, the latest version at the time, and after
> she played with it for a while she remarked "It's just like
> Windows, really." She had no trouble.
>
> My Linux version of a BBS ran for 36months/24/7 without a
> single crash, before the boss outsourced that function and
> reassigned the gal to being the Lotus Notes administrator.
> Which she is very good at!
>
> -- GreyGeek

Good story.

AC