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This virtual interview is a patchwork of several emails between Mícheál Ó Foghlú, best known for his authorship of "Perl 5 Quick Reference" (published by Que) and currently lecturing in Waterford Institute of Technology and Ken Guest.

(KG)> Are people aware that they are using Linux?

(MÓF)Yes. The Web page for the machines all include links to many relevant Linux sites. We are currently moving from Red Hat to S.u.S.E. GNU/Linux.

>Are there any specific reasons for your moving to S.u.S.E.?

We like the comprehensive nature of the S.u.S.E. distribution.  It has a more academic focus, and is European.  Red Hat was a good distribution, but we prefer S.u.S.E..

> What is it used for?

Mainly for final year coursework and student projects, although it's also used as a secondary domain name server in WIT.Some research groups also use Linux as their mailserver and webserver and for internal samba services.

> What do they think of it?

Many students are interested in the possibilities of configuring their home PCs with Linux.

> What does tech admin think of it?

The service is provided along side the official institute facilities and so is not used by tech admin so much. There is an initiatve to make all of the Institutes of Technology in Ireland use Linux as their central Domain Name Servers.
We do use Linux on our seondary name server already (as do some other institutes).

>Is tech. admin aware that Linux is being used? What do they think of it?

>What do you think are the strengths of linux?

The stability of the networking; the availabiliy of the software; the efficiency of the use of hardware resources by the operating system particularly in a multiuser environment.
Anyone running a webserver should consider using Apache on Linux.
Anyone teaching Unix should consider Linux as a value for money platform for experimentation and learning.

> How many machines run Linux?

At present a limited number (maybe 10 including postgrad research machines).
We hope to have dual-boot machines in computer laboratories in the near future which would up the numbers to 70 or more.

> How heavily/frequently are they used?

The main machines would have a user community of hundreds mostly from Wintel X-Servers and Secure Shell logins. Most machines would be in constant use, in that there would be background number crunching programs running even at night when there are few interactive logins.

> Do these machines have different uses?

Well, there are a range of uses: student project machine, research group mail server, web servers and so on.

> Are these machines new?

Some are, the central student project machine is a low-end Dell PowerEdge. Other machines are older PCs which can be given a new lease of life with GNU/Linux.

> Did they have some other operating system on them before Linux?

The old machines did, but the new machines are exclusively Linux. We often configure a small DOS partition in case of hardware testing software which is often exclusively DOS based.

> What operating systems did the old machines run?

Windows95, DOS and Windows NT where applicable.

> Within the scope of how its used, do you think its a viable replacement for NT or any other operating system?

It is used instead of, or as an alternative to, other Unixes in our campus, mainly as various syllabae have a requirement that students use some form of unix for experience of the range of computing development platforms available.In specific areas Linux is a very good alternative to NT such as as a central mail hub or as a Web server and internet firewall.
The main weakness of Linux would be the lack of de facto standard software such as Microsoft Office. One would hope that Java versions of applications software would mean that Linux could compete head-on with the wintel platforms, but for now its main use is in more niche areas.

> Are there plans of using linux more?

We hope to expand the use of Linux to include labs with dual boot facilities.
I understand that some other Irish colleges such as the University of Limerick have already achieved this.
UL's student computer society who run their own Linux machine are a good example of how these things can develop in useful directions.

>Would you recommend Linux to anybody in a similar field?

One of the very first uses of Linux was in the educational field. I myself used Linux in University College Galway Computer Services in the early 90's (with the encouragment of Joe Desbonet who is an active member of the Irish Linux Users Group).
I am sure that Linux can be used to great effect both as an educational tool and as a platform for the provision of networking services in a educational networking envronment.