Your feedback is much appreciated

[ramonsagullo at yahoo.com]

Hello, Gavin.

----- Original Message ----
From: Gavin McCullagh <gmccullagh at gmail.com>
To: edubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com

Hi,

On Fri, 15 Jun 2007, Mon Sagullo wrote:

> I intend to use Edubuntu in our new computer lab.  Through this list, I
> found my way to www.eway.com 's site. 

>>Do you mean http://www.ewayco.com/

Thank you for the correction. And I hope I did not misled anyone browsing for thin clients. :-)

>>Note I am talking now about a thin client not a "thick diskless client".
>>If you want those, that's different.

I'd appreciate if you could fill me in with the difference between a "thick diskless client"  and a thin client.

>>A few things occur to me:

>>1. Teeny thin clients are small and could be easy to steal.  You may need
>> to bolt them down which might cost something.  Big ugly ones might be
 >> better if you think this might be a problem.

Yes. It's "portability" had me thinking of doing the same - bolting these on the desk, or some sort of a "locking mechanism."  I am still crunching the numbers if the money saved from having smaller desks for the lab and with the less electrical consumption, can offset the "modifications" necessary to accommodate these tiny boxes in our soon-to-be built computer lab.

Aside from money saved from electricity, I really would like to make our new computer lab as environment-friendly as possible. 

>>2. You can quite script your thin clients to all power off at a certain
>>  time every day if nobody is logged in.  We could try to think up a
>>  system to power down thin clients if nobody logs in for, say, one hour.

7:20am-8:00pm is the normal class schedule (high school kids most of the day, and college kids from 4:00pm), 80-minute lunch break.

>>5. Thin clients take very little maintenance time in general, though there
>>   is a little expertise involved.

And I trust I am in the right user group in seeking the expert guidance. :-)

> for lower cost in operating expense, to use 15-inch Flat LCD monitors.
>>Compared to CRTs, I'd be inclined to agree.

The Board of Trustees got to appreciate the savings on power consumption after I gave then a chart of how much the school will save, using a 60-unit computers for comparison - CRT vs LCD.

> My proposed server is an HP Proliant ML 110 G4 (Single Dual-Core Xeon
> Processor 1.86, with 2Gig of RAM) to handle 40 planned thin client per
> server. A couple of Linksys 24-port router to handle the traffic.

>> I imagine that's a 64-bit cpu.  Just the same, I'd seriously consider
>> running 32-Bit Ubuntu for the time being.  When all is stable and things
>> like the flash plugin work on 64-bit you can move up.

My first option was to plug together the components for a server, but all I'll get this way is warranty on parts, no service support. The HP option was more for saving me the headache :-) Now, am inclined to do the former. Thanks for the "wait till it's more stable" advise.

>>For 40 users, you probably need more RAM.  I would try to get up to 4GB per
>>server.  I'd try to be flexible and see how you go between 30 and 40 users.
>>It all depends what applications they're all using.

One of the suggested specs I found in my browsing stated that 64MB per client was the least "doable."   I am targeting a 30 clients per server. And like Tod, your suggestion for more RAM, I am now going for as much RAM as the school budget will allow me to.

Our current curriculum has no programming involved.  More on imparting proficiency in using a word processor, a spreadsheet and how to efficiently browse the web. 99% of our students do not own a personal computers. Though the town I live in has a good number of internet kiosks.

> 3. Also, is it possible to boot from WAN, using Edubuntu?
>>You mean wireless or a WAN?  Not easily over wireless though it is
>>possible.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/EdubuntuFAQ#head-89dcf777d5d9c472dd5aa9a15bb17de90c6f0860

Wireless. :-)  Thanks for the link.

>>As regards the thin client specs, they all look fine.  One question is
>>whether, if you're buying so many thin clients, you should be thinking in
>>terms of buying thin clients capable of running as "thick clients" which
>>have no disks but run their own applications.  The main advantage of this
>>is it should create less network load and less load on the server.  Serious
>>multimedia applications will work better that way too as video will be
>>played and displayed locally instead of sent across the network.  Although
>>this running mode is not available easily on edubuntu yet, it's in
>>development.  

For the next two years, the school is targeting at least 60 to 100 units. I could use more tutoring on the salient differences between a "diskless thick client" and "diskless thin client."

I forgot to mention that part of the school's planned community service once the new lab is up and running, is to provide the parents weekend access, preferably with a web cam, so they can get in touch with their OFW (Overseas Filipino Workers) spouses, siblings, et. al.

I am also coordinating with our local government in rolling out Edubutu boxes for the out-of school youth IT program.

It is very reassuring that I know I can always ask for direction in this list. We do have two instructors in our current computer lab.  But effectively, I am a "lone ranger" as far as IT concerns are in the hierarchy of the school's officers. Our present Board of Trustees come from a generation before PC was invented :-)






 
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