LINUX vs. WINDOWS

From my research, there is to many comparison of Linux and Windows. It can serve as an introduction to Linux for Windows users. Here I list down some of the comparison :


1)Flavors

Both Windows and Linux come in many flavors. All the flavors of Windows come from Microsoft, the various distributions of Linux come from different companies (i.e. Linspire, Red Hat, SuSE, Ubuntu, Xandros, Knoppix, Slackware, Lycoris, etc. ).

Windows has two main lines. The older flavors are referred to as "Win9x" and consist of Windows 95, 98, 98SE and Me. The newer flavors are referred to as "NT class" and consist of Windows NT3, NT4, 2000, XP and Vista. Going back in time, Windows 3.x preceded Windows 95 by a few years. And before that, there were earlier versons of Windows, but they were not popular. Microsoft no longer supports Windows NT3, NT4, all the 9x versions and of course anything older. Support for Windows 2000 is partial (as of April 2007).

The flavors of Linux are referred to as distributions (often shortened to "distros"). All the Linux distributions released around the same time frame will use the same kernel (the guts of the Operating System). They differ in the add-on software provided, GUI, install process, price, documentation and technical support. Both Linux and Windows come in desktop and server editions.

There may be too many distributions of Linux, it's possible that this is hurting Linux in the marketplace. It could be that the lack of a Linux distro from a major computer company is also hurting it in the marketplace. IBM is a big Linux backer but does not have their own branded distribution. Currently there seem to be many nice things said about the Ubuntu distribution.

Linux is customizable in a way that Windows is not. For one, the user interface, while similar in concept, varies in detail from distribution to distribution. For example, the task bar may default to being on the top or the bottom. Also, there are many special purpose versions of Linux above and beyond the full blown distributions described above. For example, NASLite is a version of Linux that runs off a single floppy disk (since revised to also boot from a CD) and converts an old computer into a file server. This ultra small edition of Linux is capable of networking, file sharing and being a web server.

2) Graphical User Interface

Both Linux and Windows provide a GUI and a command line interface. The Windows GUI has changed from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95 (drastically) to Windows 2000 (slightly) to Windows XP (fairly large) and is slated to change again with the next version of Windows, the one that will replace XP. Windows XP has a themes feature that offers some customization of the look and feel of the GUI.

Linux typically provides two GUIs, KDE and Gnome. See a screen shot of Lycoris and Lindows in action from the Wal-Mart web site. The lynucs.org web site has examples of many substantially different Linux GUIs. Of the major Linux distributions, Lindows has made their user interface look more like Windows than the others. Here is a screen shot of Linux made to look like Windows XP. Then too, there is XPde for Linux which really makes Linux look like Windows. Quoting their web site "It's a desktop environment (XPde) and a window manager (XPwm) for Linux. It tries to make easier for Windows XP users to use a Linux box."

Mark Minasi makes the point (Windows and .NET magazine, March 2000) that the Linux GUI is optional while the Windows GUI is an integral component of the OS. He says that speed, efficiency and reliability are all increased by running a server instance of Linux without a GUI, something that server versions of Windows can not do. In the same article he points out that the detached nature of the Linux GUI makes remote control and remote administration of a Linux computer simpler and more natural than a Windows computer.

3)Text Mode Interface

This is also known as a command interpreter. Windows users sometimes call it a DOS prompt. Linux users refer to it as a shell. Each version of Windows has a single command interpreter, but the different flavors of Windows have different interpreters. In general, the command interpreters in the Windows 9x series are very similar to each other and the NT class versions of Windows (NT, 2000, XP) also have similar command interpreters. There are however differences between a Windows 9x command interpreter and one in an NT class flavor of Windows. Linux, like all versions of Unix, supports multiple command interpreters, but it usually uses one called BASH (Bourne Again Shell). Others are the Korn shell, the Bourne shell, ash and the C shell (pun, no doubt, intended).

4)Security

Linux [has] ... the notion of an administrative (root) user that maintains and operates the system, and desktop users who only run the software on the system, is completely ingrained in most Linux distributions. Now it’s true that many Linux users ignore these features and run all their software from a root-level account anyway, but that’s a choice that they’ve made. The system defaults to protecting the operating system components from its user’s actions (intentional or otherwise). That feature alone must account in large degree for the dearth of viruses and other malicious vermin on Linux and UNIX platforms. Windows, on the other hand, started life as a single user system, with that single user being all-powerful. Although that’s no longer the case, the general attitude can still be found in many Windows-based software products – many of which just can’t be installed and/or run properly without desktop administrator privileges. This is all changing for the better, but it took Microsoft far too long to adopt this default-secure configuration practice.

Source Linux vs. Windows: Which is Most Secure? (March 2007) Kenneth van Wyk.

For this moment only these few comparison I listed down. Will update soon..

Set Up RADIUS on Windows 2000

Here is a few step to set up RADIUS on Windows 2000 so you can autheticate wireless clients.

Requirements:

• Windows 2000 with Active Directory (latest service pack)
• Certificate server
• IAS server
• Access point with 802.1X capability, the following were used in this guide
  • Linksys BEFW11S4
  • D-link DI-824vup
• Windows 2000 or Windows XP client with a wireless adapter (latest service pack)

Windows 2000 Radius server setup:

Make sure Active Directory and DNS are configured properly

• Install the IAS and certificate server components from add/remove programs

After the IAS and certificate server components has been installed successfully. Setup the server as CA root and register the IAS server with Active Directory.

For help on setting up the certificate server for automatic certificate allocation:

• Click Start, and then click Help
  
• Click the Search tab, type the following text, and then click List Topics :

  configure automatic certificate allocation from an enterprise ca

• In the Select topic list, click Configure automatic certificate allocation from an enterprise CA , and then click Display
  

To register the Radius sever:

• Right click the RADIUS server and select the "Register in Active Directory" option.

• Click ok when you see this message

• Next right click the clients option and select create new client.

• Name :
• IP:
• Click Verify to make sure its the correct IP
• Client Vendor: Radius Standard
• Check the "client must always send signature attribute in the request" box
• Enter a secret key that will be exchanged between the access point and server

• Edit the remote policy to include Extensible Authentication Protocol on the Authentication tab
• Also add the group that you want to allow wireless access

Changing the user properties in Active Directory:

• Give the user dial in permissions, or create a group and add the users to that group
• Change domain mode to native to enable the Remote Access Policy option

Radius client setup:

D-link access point configuration:

• Enable 802.1X
• Encryption :enabled
• Server: W2k Radius IP
• Port : 1812
• Radius secret : same as Radius server
• WEP enabled (optional)

Linksys access point configuration:

• Wireless security : Enabled
• Security mode: Radius
• Radius Servers address: W2k Radius IP
• Port : 1812
• Shared Key: same as Radius server
• Wireless encryption type : 64bits 10HEX

Note: Once the Radius Server and clients are setup, stop and start the IAS service and reboot the access point.

Wireless client setup:

• Select the "wireless networks" tab from wireless network properties
• Highlight the access point in the available networks and click configure
• On the "association tab" change the network authentication to "Open"
• Data Encryption: WEP
• If WEP was enabled on the router and a KEY was set then enter the Key here
• if a WEP key was not specified on the access point then, check the "key is provided for me" option
  

Authentication tab

• Enable IEEE 802.1x
• EAP type: Select protected EAP (PEAP)

• Click the properties button
• Authentication Method: Secured password (EAP-MSCHAPv2)
• Click the configure button
• Uncheck the windows logon name and password box

• Right click the wireless icon and select the "View available wireless networks" option
• Select the wireless network and check the 802.1x box
• then click connect (a WEP key may be needed if set on the access point)

• A username and password screen will appear

• Enter the domain username and password and click logon

• Once connected the wireless icon will change
  

Problems that may occur while trying to connect:

Event ID : 2

• If a problem occurs while trying to connect, check the application log on the server:
• Make sure the correct domain credentials are provided

(This screen indicates incorrect credentials)

• Make sure the user account has dial in permissions set to "Allow"
• Uncheck the windows logon name and password box. As shown above in red text

Event ID: 14 or 18

• Check the connection between the Radius server and the access point
• Check the client information on the IAS server
• Make sure the shared secret on the server matches the key on the client