What I miss, and need to supplement, in Linux Mint 17.3

Manganus · 01-01-2016, 10:57 AM

I don't know if this may interest someone, but... Here it goes:

The last week, I've tried out different distributions and different desktop environments for a Thinkpad T60 (2 GB RAM) that I will run a certain server on.

For that reason, I felt I had to test with real installations, including the server software and its database, of course. No RAM-disk tests.

(If it ONLY was for the sake of the server, Mint maybe is overkill. But it has a great value to use the same distribution on that mashine as on my own (personal) computer. It's irritating when one is used to ONE set of programs, and then can't find them on certain mashines.)

By now, I've done this procedure a couple of times, and a certain rutine became established. The following steps has turned out to be what I "need" to do after logging in the first time.

What do I know? Maybe this even can be to some help for someone else?

(A remark: Changing fstab is maybe too much to expect from the installation. I don't know. But seen from my perspective, it might have been a good idea.)

Code:

$ sudo apt-get install openssh-server openssh-client

# NOW it's possible to log in with ssh

Code:

$ mkdir /home/johan/tweaks
$ cp /etc/issue.net /home/johan/tweaks/issue.net
$ nano /home/johan/tweaks/issue.net
$ sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config
+ Banner /home/johan/tweaks/issue.net

$ sudo apt-get install iotop

$ wget -q -O - https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | sudo apt-key add -
$ sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google.list'
$ sudo apt-get update 
$ sudo apt-get install google-chrome-stable

$ sudo nano /etc/environment
+ LC_ALL="en_GB.utf8"

$ sudo nano /etc/mdm/mdm.conf 
[daemon]
+ AutomaticLoginEnable=false
+ TimedLoginEnable=false
+ Greeter=/usr/lib/mdm/mdmgreeter


$ sudo apt-get install nfs-common
$ sudo nano /etc/fstab
+ # local NAS
+ 192.168.2.99:/public	 					/mnt/qnap-119	nfs	auto			0	0		
+ 192.168.2.222:/public 					/mnt/qnap-212	nfs	auto			0	0	

$ sudo reboot

wpeckham · 01-02-2016, 08:21 AM

Why are you testing and running DESKTOP distributions for a SERVER?
(Avoiding the question of : why do you want to use a LAPTOP as a server!)

When I load a server, I install a server distro (often Debian, RHEL/CentOS, or SUSE) with NO X-WINDOWS/X-ORG. No Desktop stuff at all unless I am making it a terminal server. No one should be logging in GUI desktop on a server anyway, so the space to hold it and ram to load it and cycles to run it, all wasted.

All modern server install include the service software you are having to load manually on your desktop distributions.

Driving screws with a hammer might work, but it is not really the right way.

Manganus · 01-06-2016, 05:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wpeckham

Why are you testing and running DESKTOP distributions for a SERVER?

(Avoiding the question of : why do you want to use a LAPTOP as a server!)

Yes.

Maybe I should have used quotation marks around the word "server".

I've been responsible (in practice, if not on paper) for the maintenance of that server for some ten years. Back when it was bought, the half gigabyte of RAM was considered much for the small business... So when I happened to have a spare laptop, now with eight times as much RAM, I'm about to move the software. The old mashine still functions, but the tests I've done the last weeks show it makes a difference. A cpu with two kernels doesn't sound much today, but it's an improvement in addition to the RAM.

During these years, I've many times got irritated (read: "briefly desperate") when the dedicated *nix-flavored server OS was too unfamiliar to me, who'd used Solaris daily in the mid 1990s.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wpeckham

No one should be logging in GUI desktop on a server anyway, so the space to hold it and ram to load it and cycles to run it, all wasted.

I may be naive, but I hope that unused GUI-software doesn't occupy too much RAM. (Keyword: "unused".)

Quote:

Originally Posted by wpeckham

Driving screws with a hammer might work, but it is not really the right way.

But reusing a screw (T60) as a nail, that seems to work too.

Manganus · 01-06-2016, 05:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wpeckham

Driving screws with a hammer might work, but it is not really the right way.

My points here were rather intended to be:

is it evil or not (of Mint) to write over issue.net at each login?
maybe LC_ALL ought to be set as default in distributions?
is it good or bad to include sshd in a distribution?
and nfs-common... I guess there is a reason.