Edubuntu LTSP Netboot Client Setup

[R. Scott Belford]

Timothy Boyden wrote:
> LOL, humor is still alive I guess.
> 
> I got a little farther than my previous post. I rebooted and re-enabled
> the hard drive, this allowed me to get to an (initramfs) prompt under
> busybox which I assume is a secondary bootloader. But still no Edubuntu
> GUI.
> 
> Specs are:
> 
> IBM T22 Thinkpad
> Pentium 3 900 Mhz processor
> 128 MB RAM
> 20 GB Hard Drive
> Video: S3 Savage/IX, 8 MB VRAM
> 
> It very well could be insufficient memory, and if that is the case, what
> should be the "real world" specs for thin client hardware? From my past
> experience with dedicated thin client hardware, most only had about a
> 300 Mhz proccessor with 64 or 128 Mb RAM and 8, maybe 16 Mb of VRAM?

I believe your problem is with the default color depth.  Your client and 
its video card are adequate.  Try creating an lts.conf file that has the 
following

[default]
     X_COLOR_DEPTH=16
     LDM_DIRECTX=True
     X_MODE_0=1024x768
     LOCALDEV=True
     SOUND=True
     NBD_SWAP=True
     SYSLOG_HOST=server

lts.conf belongs in /var/lib/tftpboot/ltsp/i386

Something similar was addressed here

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/edubuntu-users/2007-December/002929.html

> 
> I purposely tried to use some low-end hardware to see what the limits
> are. I was going to go with a T20, but I guess I would've been pushing
> it apparently. I don't understand the need to have the hard drive
> enabled though, because that kind of defeats the purpose of a diskless
> client, though I suppose it could be the memory issue again as the
> reason for that. I'll have to try this with an IBM ThinkCentre M50
> desktop and see how far I get.

By default 7.10 will not work with some of the very hardware supported 
by 7.04, the K12LTSP (all versions) and Debian-Edu.  It's a rather 
monumental and unsolved bug.

> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Tim

--scott
-- 
R. Scott Belford
Founder/Executive Director
The Hawaii Open Source Education Foundation
P.O. Box 2644
Ewa Beach, HI 96706
808.689.6518 phone/fax
scott at hosef.org