> On Mon, Feb 01, 1999 at 01:44:55AM +0100, Marek Habersack wrote:
> > And where would you split the kernel? What makes a linux machine a server is
> > not the kernel, but the various daemons SERVING some kind of service. The
> > kernel "merely" provides a medium for those daemons - networking, file
> > systems, access to hardware etc.
>
> As a gross generalisation in the PC world:
>
> The computers with all kinds of funky SCSI controllers and network
> settings and no `multimedia' drivers are `servers'.
>
> The computers with IDE, sound cards, maybe TV and radio cards too,
> and quite simple network setup are `workstations'.
>
> It would be short-sighted to set these generalisations about drivers
> `in stone', though.
I think the key idea here is that a "server" spends most of its time
talking to other computers, and various perpipherals, while a
"workstation" spends most of its time talking to humans. (Both can be
high-bandwidth, high-computation tasks, these days.)
Unfortunately, any long term difference between the two seems to be
minimal -- as Microsoft demonstrates quite nicely by shipping NT
"workstation" and NT "server", which are identical except for some tuning
parameters and the bundled doodads and daemons.
-- Kenneth Albanowski (kjahds@kjahds.com, CIS: 70705,126)
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