Netatalk + linux for specific educational program

["Kevin Myer" <kevin_myer elanco k12 pa us>]

Hi,

First, if you could, please reply offlist or cc: me a reply to the list -
I'm about a week and a half behind in digests!

Windows NT has let me setting again, perhaps for the last time.  We use it
here predominantly as a file server for an education software package
called Successmaker put out by CCC (Computer Curriculum Corporation).
Since we have all Macintosh workstations, we need something that will
share files over Appletalk.  Hence, we have a server in each elementary
building running Windows NT utilizing Services for Macintosh.  We also use
the DHCP server of NT to hand out IP addresses etc.

Recently, I've been upgrading from NT 3.5.1 to NT 4.0.  Everything has
been gone smoothly until lately.  One server at an elementary school has a
COPStalk Localtalk card in it, which basically acts as a Localtalk to
Ethernet bridge.  The upgrade on that machine did not go smoothly but when
I was finished (and after manually installing Services for Macintosh),
everything APPEARED to be workable before I left for Christmas break.
However, this morning, after it was used the first time, it apparently
crashed repeatedly throughout the day and all I can find in the Event
Viewer is a Save Dump message about the machine doing a bugdump, then a
messsage a short while later about the machine unexpectedly shutting down.

I've had this dream for awhile - replace NT with Linux for this
file-sharing but I can't take a server down for more than a day and I
can't just play around, hoping it will work.  So what my question is:
first, has anyone had success installing Linux on Zenith Data Systems
servers?  And secondly, by any chance, are there any K-12 tech support
people out there running CCC off a Linux box?

I know how to run netatalk off a Linux box - I'm just looking for any
glitches to be aware of with CCC and/or ZDS servers.

I'm getting really sick of driving to an elementary school just to restart
some failed service (and not knowing why it failed!)  As someone once
said, the best remote administration aid for Windows NT is a car.

Thanks for any help!

Kevin

-- 
Kevin M. Myer
Technical Services Specialist
ELANCO School District