Re: PPPkit 2.0 (was: Importance of "W" f

[chu@platinum.com (Howard Chu)]

   >>  >Yes, how many "average-joe" users really need a multi-user system? I
   >>  >certainly see no need for it.
   >> 
   >> Multi-user is a growning industry, on the PC side, so why not here?
   >> Typically, this involves a whole family or small office connecting
   >> to the internet using the best-featured machine and other machines
   >> using it as an IP masking device.
   >
   >"Multiuser" on the PC (i.e. Windows) isn't anything like "multiuser"
   >as it's used in MiNTOS. On the PC it simply means that the person
   >using the web/mail/news-browser can type a username (and optionally a
   >password) to use their own setup for a particular session.

  1) This is completely wrong. Even Toad Computers now sell local
     networking kits to allow what I described. So it's not just a
     "load a new user profile and get mail" thing. 
     It's beyond that. It's a: "kid in bedroom A surfs, while kid
     in bedroom B chats, and father in bedroom C checks out porn 
     sites; all linked to the father's souped-up P300 whose modem
     connects to the ISP".

This can all be done already. MiNTnet supports many network interfaces,
and you can set up a routing daemon on it as well. I have run my two
TTs and two Falcons on just such a network, with one TT gatewaying to
the ISP. If I still used my Mega ST and STe I would have hooked them in
as well. (Serial lines or MIDI cable for them.)

  2) Is that a lame excuse for NOT developping a masquerading device
     for MiNTnet?  If Ronald Anderson figured one out for STiNG, I'm
     sure it can be done on MiNTnet.

That's not strictly necessary, at the device level. First of all, you
can always order an entire range of network addresses from your ISP,
and thus have your own subnet. Second, your common apps (web, mail, news)
can all use intermediate (proxy) servers running on your gateway machine,
so even if you only have one IP address, all of your clients can get to
the resources they need. In fact you can use proxies for everything, the
way SOCKS handles proxy services.
     
  3) Average Joe don't need a "Telnet & commandline" system, a la UNIX.
     He just wants to use Netscape on machine B while only machine A is
     connected to his ISP.
     
As I note above, this is trivial to accomplish.
  -- Howard