I have recently gotten my "Dream" job....after 18 years as a
psychotherapist...I have been trying for the last three years to get into
some part of the computer field (preferably networking) Given my age and
extensive experience in other fields no-one wanted to touch me....just when
I was thinking of giving up the whole idea I was offered the position of MIS
Coordinator at the clinic at which I have worked P/T for many years as a
clinician.

I have a lot to learn and I am putting more hours in now than I have ever
put in to any job in my life (oh yeah....and I love every minute of it!!)
BUT...I don't want to screw up and lose the opportunity to create a new
niche for myself in the computer world.  It's been a long time since I have
has THIS kind of luck and I don't want to leave any more to chance than is
absolutely necessary.

Have several questions which I will ask after describing the network.
Please forgive the inexactness of my descriptions but I was literally
"thrown" into this with no one to train me...the former director would not
make herself available for training during her last week and there is little
in the way of Network Schematics to guide me....just started the job one
week ago so I will have to look at every machine and run diagnostics to know
what each has onboard.

1.) UNIX Server(IBM AS6000) running AIX UNIX ( I know very little about UNIX
and would appreciate any and all advice as to the quickest way to get
literate on AIX UNIX (ie..Would playing around with LINUX be close enough??)
Don't need to do any scripting or even access the shell as the specialized
software package we are running on top of it handles most or all of the
tasks necessary for system maintenance....I have a few thousand pages of
docs on this program and will be sent for training on this next
month...still I would like to know more about UNIX proper and would like to
hear of any known tutorials on the topic that any here could recommend.

2.)  @20 PC's running windows 95 attach to this UNIX Server through a
Netware Server running version 3.12  These machines have Netware Client32
for Win95 as their Netware interface and this seems to work rather well so
far. The Netware server provides file storage/security for the 15 or so
users who need programs not available on the UNIX machine

3. @40 "Dumb" Wyse50 Terminals attach directly (well not exactly...they are
telneting in to the server using "kermit" I believe (I am rather a bit in
the dark about the hows and whys of dumb terminals)

4. @10 Machines running DOS only attach to the Netware Server
   using (I imagine) nwclient.

5. All Windows machines assigned to supervisors have access to a remote
message server via an ISDN line connected to our Web Hosting ISP ..We have
our own Internic registered domain name and have not yet used this resource
to real advantage.

6. 2 full T-1 lines connect the main center to our other two remote
locations and one fiber optic line connects our main building to our annex
building at the main site.

A few quick questions:

1.)Is the Netware Server redundant?  Can't Win NT be installed on top of
UNIX?
2.) Has anyone used x-windows? Is it user friendly? (I have a lot of
non-typing computer phobes to train who know only how to point and
click...if it won't use up too many network resources I would just as soon
give them a GUI (We can't afford to give them all updated machines at this
point so Win95 is really not an option yet)
3.) The Wyse50 Terminals have been terribly unreliable and the monitors
integrated in them are very poor quality (or is it the card inside??) Anyone
have any familiarity with these workstations and/or any knowledge of ways to
improve their performance?   Would I do as well to throw together several
386 machines with NICS and mono adapters....how much more in Network
resources would VGA monitors use?? With VGA I could give them terminal
emulators that would look "prettier" and less imposing.
Anyone know any URL's where there is information about these terminals and
how to improve them??

****Well...that's more than enough for now....I recognize that this is quite
a bit of info and perhaps I should have posted it in increments but I
thought I would try it this way first.

Thanks for any assistance you might be able to provide

Best,
Bob Chapel

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