edubuntu-devel Digest, Vol 4, Issue 13

[flint at flint.com]

Dear Matt Price,

To follow up on Matt's suggestion, this is a good way to do what you want.

If you need any help, do not hesitate to contact me.  There is a great
deal of interest in getting this out now that we have validated the
system.

Regards,

Paul

> Today's Topics:
> 
>    1. Re: cluster/lab/thin clients question... (Matt Zimmerman)
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Sun, 11 Sep 2005 15:05:58 -0700
> From: Matt Zimmerman <mdz at ubuntu.com>
> Subject: Re: cluster/lab/thin clients question...
> To: edubuntu-devel at lists.ubuntu.com
> Message-ID: <20050911220557.GG23679 at alcor.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> 
> On Thu, Sep 08, 2005 at 11:59:50PM -0400, Matt Price wrote:
> > Hi there,
> > 
> > I've just discovered edubuntu and am starting to think it might be
> > helpful for a project I'm workingo n, but want to get some advice. 
> > 
> > I run a beginning computer course in a local housing project with a
> > mostly-immigrant population; students refurbish donated computers,
> > install Ubuntu, and take the computers home.  It's a neat programme, and
> > I'm glad to be able to do it.
> > 
> > I've just received a fairly large number of computers, many more than I
> > can hand over to students this year.  I'll end up with about 30 extra
> > Pentium-II's and a handful of Pentium-III's.  I've been thinking it
> > would be nice to set up a proper computer lab with this equipment, but
> > I'm not sure of the best way to go about it and am hoping for some
> > advice.  here are some features I'd like to have:
> > 
> > - centralized user profiles, so a user can log in on any machine and
> > have everything work just the way she set it up last time
> > - relative simplicity in the setup process -- I'm doing this mostly on
> > my own and I'm really not a networking expert. 
> > - some kind of software -- maybe instant messaging? -- that demonstrates
> > to students how the computers are all connected. 
> 
> A thin client configuration would be your best option for this hardware.  It
> requires few resources on the client machines, is easy to set up, and
> centrally administered (all user accounts and data are maintained on the
> server).
> 
> > - optimal use of scarce CPU and memory resources -- not all the
> > computers are likely to be in use at any given time, so it would be nice
> > to be able grab idle cycles from other machines if at all possible
> 
> This is called clustering, and isn't very suitable for low-powered machines
> or slow networks.  A thin client configuration allows you to use these
> low-powered machines by sharing the resources of a centralized server, which
> is a simpler and more efficient method.
> 
> -- 
>  - mdz
> 
> 
>