[SGVLUG] Command-line access to the Caltech library computer system?

[John E. Kreznar]

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Is there a way to gain command-line access to the Caltech library
computer system?  It would be nice to have an interface there which is
designed for an adult.

Five years ago, Caltech library computers could be booted into
tomsrtbt, and that was a way to get a real operating system there.
Now, reset-reboot ignores any disk in the floppy drive, and it goes
right back to Windows.  Same if Knoppix is in the CD drive, at least
on the one machine tested.

Cygwin provides a Linux-like environment under Windows, including
bash, but Cygwin installation is administratively prohibited there, at
least on the one machine tested.  Even the Windows DOS window,
primitive as it is, is administratively disabled on these machines.

What is seen by a Linux laptop connected (wireless or ether) into the
Caltech library system?  (I don't have a laptop for testing, but this
issue may finally give me reason to get one.)

One useful thing to do at the Caltech library is to scan a paper from
a non-circulating volume and scp it out for later study.  The scp part
might be done with the Linux laptop, but how can the scan be gotten
into the laptop in the first place, without sullying one's hands with
Microsoft?

- -- 
 John E. Kreznar jek at ininx.com 9F1148454619A5F08550 705961A47CC541AFEF13
  Operating a computer with a GUI is like driving a car with
   an animated cartoon in place of the clear front window.

         Microsoft is an oil spill on the Internet

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