Date: 22 Aug 2002 11:41:54 -0700 From: Ken McGlothlen <mcglk@artlogix.com> To: Bsd Neophyte <bsdneophyte@yahoo.com> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: need some advice on a freebsd solution Message-ID: <86ofbuenwt.fsf@ralf.artlogix.com> In-Reply-To: <20020822102316.35518.qmail@web20104.mail.yahoo.com> References: <20020822102316.35518.qmail@web20104.mail.yahoo.com>
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Bsd Neophyte <bsdneophyte@yahoo.com> writes:
| The application is a simple accounting tool for payrolls.
Hm. If I knew exactly what it did, it might turn out to be a four-hour Perl
project for someone. That's a lot cheaper than $6000.
| My client will host the DOS appliction on his server that his clients will
| need access to.
|
| My client wants to set up a series of directories that all contain a separate
| copy of the DOS application. When his clients access the server remotely,
| they should only have access to their directories. The application should
| begin as soon as the login. The secure connection needs to be between my
| client's server and his client's workstations.
Okay. So we have a DOS program that the client's clients will be running on
your client's server. It may be sufficiently complicated that reimplementing
it in a FreeBSD-native way might not be possible within your budget (though I
don't really know yet).
Does the DOS program:
* Use any external devices at all?
* Use graphics?
If neither of this are true, it might be a perfect candidate for Bochs.
http://bochs.sourceforge.net/
http://bochs.sourceforge.net/doc/docbook/alldocs.html
http://bochs.sourceforge.net/doc/docbook/user/x192.htm
(By the way, Bochs can print and use the network just fine, but serial devices
are still pretty much not possible yet. And, of course, Bochs is free, and
easy to install from the ports collection: /usr/ports/emulators/bochs.)
What I'd do is create some sort of skeleton directory with all the
configuration files, and for each user, copy the necessary files (using
symbolic links for files they shouldn't have to modify), give each one their
own 10MB diskfile or so with a copy of the application on it, and that should
work okay, PROVIDED THEY DON'T SHARE DATA. If they share data, that's a whole
'nother problem (you'll probably want *those* people to use the same login so
they're running the same Bochs machine). Then you just start up Bochs in each
user's .login file, and you should be good to go.
Oh. You'll need a copy of DOS to install on the disk as well.
If the program uses graphics, though (or perhaps even screen addressing), you
might have to do all this over X11 for this to be feasible.
| The problem is that this is waaay beyond my scope. My client doesn't want
| something too complicated, time consuming, or expensive.
Well, I think we're closer to the solution here. I suspect Bochs might be the
right solution, provided the program doesn't generate graphics or use a serial
device or something like that.
You may have to beef up the RAM in the FreeBSD box if it's going to be running
a number of copies of Bochs. You'll probably need at least a 2GB disk (larger
if you have a number of clients---remember, each one is going to be sucking up
10-20MB for their "diskspace").
Let us know what you find out.
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