Topic: clark connect

[Ted]

now that e-smith is no longer updating their sme, what are your opinions on clark connect?  it seems pretty solid.

[guestHH]

FYI

Contribs.org and ClarkConnect already have established contact to discuss the recent developments in the linux community in general.

We hope to share thoughts in the future.

Regards,
guestHH

[Paul]

ClarkConnect is in the same boat as every other distro that is based on RedHat.  With RH turning over the development to Fedora and the public community and putting an OEL of 4/2004 on RH9, the stability and security issue becomes questionable.

SME had always used an earlier more stable version of RH to avoid problems associated with cutting edge versions. SME may not be using all the latest toys available but it is rock solid.  The major downside to this is that RH7.3's EOL is in 25 DAYS.

ClarkConnect uses the latest and greatest (currently RH9).  This provides the latest and greatest but it's security and durability has not been put to the full test yet.

I have been mucking around with several other distros to compare to SME and CC has similarities and I like it, but (everyone always has a big but, don't they) the web based manager is hard to navigate and Samba configuration needs tweaking.

SME seems to be the only ones that have figured out Samba and made it work out of the box as SME intended it to work.  I have yet to take another distro and have it serving up files to 25 clients in less than 20 minutes.  Every other distro I try always needs messing with samba.

There are a lot of great people trying to keep this MAGNIFICENT distro going.  I, myself do not have the expertise to contribute any brainpower but will send $$ if it looks like there is some hope.

Too many questions - Not near enough answers. (Lots of good suggestions though)

I will sit back and let those with the brains decide what will happen.  I figure 5.6 will work for a couple of months and then I will need to make a choice.

Paul

[Peter]

Wotcher,

As I understand it Mitel will be releasing version 6.0 as a 'proper' ditribution as the last thing they do, I think they said in the next few weeks.

As is stands this disribution will be completely up to date UNTIL a weakness is found in any of the packages. So I guess untill that point its still a pucka package?

Peter.

[Ted]

I made the leap.  I purchased clark connect office...  I have used e-smith for over 3 years, but decided that I would make the jump now rather than later.  I will still be keeping  an eye of e-smith, but after tonight will be a clark connect folken.

[Darrell May]

Hello Ted,

Please explain your change-over to CC.  Did you upgrade over SME?  I did not personally think this was possible due to the package differences so am wondering how easy this change-over was.

Did you simply start with a new fresh install of CC?

Darrell

[Ted]

I migrated sort of.....I backed up what I could and did a fresh install of clark connect.  I must say it was rather easy.  

I encourage others to give them a look. They have a roadmap of what they are doing and what they expect to do (including moving to redhat ES perhaps).  I'm not trying to talk anyone into clark connect, just pointing out that it is a distro that is still being actively developed, and it is a perfect replacement of e-smith for me.

[Darrell May]

Agreed.  Clark Connect is a potential option however I would suggest everyone sit back and relax.  Don't jump ship just yet.  The community have not even gotten our hands on the final SME6.0 release yet.  Contribs.org is just reving up.  I expect SME will be with us and evolving for quite some time.

Darrell

[gman]

I agree....  There are many folks that depended on RH to continue to support their distro's.  To me - they gave up.  (RedHat)

However in the end - eSmith (now Contribs) should keep all options open.  There are a lot of other distro's out there that can do what we want.

Keep the faith - as nothing that is worth having, comes painless and easy !

G

e-Smith user since 4.x

[%sig%]

[Schotty]

Hi all!

Well I have been running 5.6 solid for about 1 year. I am very happy with it and after doing some tests on 6.0 beta, discovered that I dont need an update!
My 5.6 Ver. is running on 266mhz, 128MB, and is used for website, mail and storage.

I tried out CC, but Im sorry but I dont even place it in the same league as E-Smith...or whatever we call it now
The E-smith server was really designed to be up and running in 20 minutes, and this it does- ok ok some guys have problems, but generally it works!!!
The bad thing - looking at at from 1 view is that its just too god dammed easy!!!! I really wanted to get node in and start doing advanced things with linux, but like I said there is nothing on the e-smith to do!!!

CC on the other hand gives you just a "bare minimum" of webpage admin..... Try setting up your emails to go through a relay server........ If you need help heres the link * www.postfix.org....... *
Try collecting mails from a catch-all account at your provider..... heres the link * http://www.catb.org/~esr/fetchmail/......*

Now im not hammering at CC.. Its good -dammed good. Now I get to get my hands on and learn some stuff. But for me my server is staying e-smith. I dont really have the feeling Ive got to update my server every year....


Oh yes... well done contribs.org. I wish you every success in your new adventure.
I would love to help out. Although Im not a linux Wizard, Ive got 2 arms, 2 legs a body. a head complete with content


I can really recommend to all e-smith users out there - before you go out looking for your next step, evaluate your situation. Do you really have to migrate NOW or is it just some desire. Ver 6.0 will certainly keep you up and running for another year. And I am sure that all @ contribs.org and lots of others wil be keeping this project alive.


Cya

Schotty

[Reinhold]

...since this seems rapidly becoming a pro ClarkConnect thread i'd like to give my 2c:

I CAME from CC ... to SME and I'm not going back for quite some time...
CC has potential but also "a long way to go"... (even with roadmap

the good things about cc:
i) Great looks - compared to e-smith - compared to webmin .-)
ii) gallery, snort and a basic system monitor is built in AND CC has apt-get
iii) as a commercial package it seemingly works almost as e-smith - with critical exceptions

now a few killing points:
*) where e-smith works 20min from .iso ...cc is work in progress (well sort of after 2.x)
*) Samba support is meager to say the least... basically it doesn't do usefull fileserving out of the box with more than a simple share ... (imo and btw: I am a seasoned samba user ...)
*) The whole websharing "ibay" concept has to be worked out/copied  still...
*) Community support in the (good looking forum is POOR ... people YELL at each other or "RTFM/search/go google" all the time (at least that's what I felt and I read it all).
*) Contribs & HowTo's aren't (yet) existent (or worthwhile .-) ... just look at what's there and compare to e-smith.
*) imo you have to BUY their office ed ... nothing for non profit org(s) like I support...no basis for small business ... ignore  that home edition .-/

My resume was: Looks can be deceiving...
E-smith 6.0 will carry me and the people I support in 2004...
I will watch and see where (friendly) e-smith community goes...
I am NOT concerned about EndOfLive of RH 7.0 for quite some time...
For fiddling I can upgrade my Debian(Knoppix) install(s) with webmin ...

this is opinion ! - so you now flame me if you like

Reinhold

[Ted]

No flaming

They are all good points.  Not too long ago I was a user of cc 1.3.  That was a mess, I couldn't even get the thing setup and running, so I went back to sme.  However, cc 2.1 office is actually just as easy to install and setup as sme ever was.  I too find the forum support to be a little lacking, but office comes with 30 email support, and they are awesome.  I've used it about 6-7 times, and each time received an answer within 2 hours.

I didn't mean for this to be a pro cc thread, as I have used e-smith since version 4, and am very thankful for running it.  I also think smoothwall and IPcop are solid products as well.  I just wanted others to know there are alternative if e-smith doesn't pan out.  I hope e-smith evolves and is successful.