OT: Re: WinXP administration guide for unix guru

[Garrett Cooper]

Andrew L. Gould wrote:

>On Sun, 21 Aug 2005 04:17:03 -0400
>Louis LeBlanc <FreeBSD at keyslapper.net> wrote:
>
>  
>
>>On 08/20/05 11:23 PM, Andrew L. Gould sat at the `puter and typed:
>>    
>>
>>>On Sun, 21 Aug 2005 07:09:52 +0300
>>>Ovidiu Ene <ovidiue at unixware.ro> wrote:
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>>>is this a joke?
>>>>
>>>>Kent Hauser wrote:
>>>>
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>>>Hi,
>>>>>
>>>>>I've been a Unix sysadmin  (SunOS 3.x, 4.x, Solaris, FreeBSD)
>>>>>for 15 years, but am now being forced to learn how to run a
>>>>>collection of XP boxes.
>>>>>
>>>>>Can anyone recommend a book which explains this confusing beast?
>>>>>I'm talking about a book which explains where things are put
>>>>>(equiv of / var/mail, /etc/passwd, /etc/rc.conf), where
>>>>>application data is stored, how printers, disks, etc are shared,
>>>>>how to book in "fixit disk" mode, how to backup/restore, how to
>>>>>configure swap space. And also questions like why XP is
>>>>>"professional", etc.
>>>>>
>>>>>I know it's a bit off topic, but I'm having a hard time figuring
>>>>>the system to what's what in XP.
>>>>>
>>>>>Thanks, Kent
>>>>>          
>>>>>
>>>There are lots of WinXP administration books in the bookstores.
>>>Although there are several books for Windows users moving to Unix,
>>>I've not seen one for the other direction.
>>>
>>>There is an O'Reilly book called "Windows XP Annoyances for
>>>Geeks".  It may not help; but at least it has a cool title.  ;-)
>>>      
>>>
>>Does it tell you why XP requires any user wishing to print to a
>>network printer must have administrator privileges?
>>
>>Stupid XP.
>>
>>Lou
>>-- 
>>Louis LeBlanc                          FreeBSD-at-keyslapper-DOT-net
>>Fully Funded Hobbyist,                   KeySlapper Extrordinaire :)
>>Please send off-list email to:         leblanc at keyslapper d.t net
>>Key fingerprint = C5E7 4762 F071 CE3B ED51  4FB8 AF85 A2FE 80C8 D9A2
>>    
>>
>
>Probably not.  I have normal WinXP users here at home printing to
>printers on a Hawking print server using IPP.
>
>Andrew Gould
>
    Have fun and good luck Kent. Many of the resources for administering 
Windows machines is more difficult as the resources are more obscure 
than for Unix. Granted, a lot of the stuff comes easily as it's 
ascessible via preexisting menus, shortcuts and so forth, so you don't 
have to venture too far for a lot of the important things. However, 
there are quite a few-more difficult to search for-command line commands 
which you can use with greater power to accomplish what you need to do 
as an admin. Google and outside books are your friend in this case 
(especially the Riley ones I think since they produce a lot of books on 
the subject).
    Be happy though that you aren't in charge of an actual Windows 
server product with a domain though, because those are increasingly more 
difficult to learn because of all of the little tools and junk that are 
present, a lot of them command line based. That's why the MSCE 
certification exists.
-Garrett