This post continues the story from yesterday on my efforts to get a Linux desktop that I can use in place of Windows. The deal breaker has been and continues to be (read below) getting a Netware client that works as well as the one for Windows.
Okay, after installing the required packages (gcc, make, and the kernel source (all 180MB of it)), I ungzipped the Novell Netware Client for Linux, pointed the SuSE package installer - YaST at the directory where the client extracted to, and Bob's your cousin, it installed.
Too bad I can't get connected to my primary Netware server. As I feared, the client seems to only works with Netware versions 5.x and above. But most, if not all of our Netware servers are stuck at version 4.x with no plans, that I know of, to upgrade.
So, I guess, I really can't get there from here (which is not a reflection on the client except that it should be backwards compatible with older Netware versions). Otherwise, the client seems to work fine for betaware.
What's really amusing is that even if I got connected, the documentation says they haven't yet gotten the password changing part working. If you may remember, my problem with the other so called Netware clients is that they don't notify you when the password is about/has expired. Hence, you end up being locked out unless you mark on your calendar a date prior to expiration and change it manually.
While I could probably live with that lower level of functionality, I think I'll wait awhile until Novell gets to version 3.x of their client before switching full time to Linux. By then, we will either have upgraded to Netware version 5.x or will have converted all the servers to Windows [gasp] or Linux.
