Re: [school-discuss] Major Linux school deployments

["Stewart Ives" <ivessm@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dean,

Very Very impressive.

Are you keeping an eye on the newer Intel motherboards with the integrated
Atom processor.  I've seen these mounted in fan-less cases that hang on the
back of the flat screen keeping the desktop totally uncluttered.

Good luck.

stew

---------- Original Message -----------
From: Dean Montgomery <dmonty@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: schoolforge-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Tue, 13 Oct 2009 08:42:09 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: [school-discuss] Major Linux school deployments

> ----- "David M. Bucknell" <david@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > This sounds fantastic.  Looking for client hardware.  Want to do  
> > something similar, but am finding it hard to find decent thin client 
> > hardware.  Too slow or limited.  Would love to hear how wrong I am.
> 
> Our diskless clients are ~$200 each - price goes up and down with 
> the economy.
> 
> * MOBO: MCP6P M2+ 
> * RAM: 1G
> * CPU: AMD Sempron(tm) Processor LE-1250
> * Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 6150 GPU
> * http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/content.php?S_ID=370
> 
> ===
> About 3-4 years ago we were re-cycling used computers as hybrid 
> diskless-ltsp clients.  But we wanted to give end-users a better 
> experience.  We now run pure diskless clients which gives us: * good 
> 3d accelerated graphics support. * good sound/video 
> create/listen/edit support. * good usb device support (thumb-drives, 
> ipods, cameras, external dvd-drives, etc) * less bandwidth needed 
> for diskless - compared to ltsp.
> 
> ==============
> Below is a comparison list that we put together a while back...
> 
> === Implementing Linux in your School(s) ===
> 
> There are 3 options:
> 1.LTSP – Linux Terminal Server Project.
> 2.Diskless.  (with ability to run software on server)
> 3.Fat Client.
> 
> #1 LTSP Pros:
> -Easy to install and configure software.
> -Been around a long time.
> -Lots of related software and support.
> -Supports very slow hardware with very little RAM.
> -Supports 30-50 workstations per server.
> -Installing software is easy - appears on all workstations.
> #1 LTSP Cons:
> -Can bog down the server.
> -Sound and 3d acceleration do not work well.
> -USB/Firewire/CDROM/Floppy etc can be tricky.
> -Everything runs on the server so it can get bogged down with too 
> much activity. -Screen flickers when scrolling or heavy graphical games.
> -Re-using old hardware means old hardware maintenance.
> -Does not yet work well with wireless networks.
> 
> #2 Diskless Pros:
> -USB/Firewire/CDROM/Floopy are nicely integrated in the desktop environment.
> -Server does not get bogged down.  Users are not affected by a 
> single user's cpu intensive programs. -3d acceleration and sound 
> work great as long as the cipset is supported by linux. -Hardware is 
> faster/cheaper in 2007 (not forced to use slow hardware with 32MB 
> ram). -Supports over 100 workstations per server. -Uses less network 
> bandwidth.
> #2 Diskless Cons:
> -Requires faster hardware and more ram on the client.  800Mhz CPU, 
> 500MB RAM min. -Relatively new for schools so there is not as much 
> out-of-the-box support for diskless.  The technitian has to do more -
> configuration. -Does not yet work well with wireless networks.
> 
> #3 Fat Client Pros:
> -Relatively easy to create an initial image and ghost.
> -USB/CDROM/etc hardware are nicely integrated into the desktop environment.
> -Low network bandwidth.
> -Wireless network works well.
> -3d acceleration and sound work well.
> #3 Fat Client Cons:
> -Updating software requires updating all hard drives (not 
> centralized). -Changes and tweaks require addressing each workstation.
> -- 
> Dean Montgomery
> Network Support Tech./Programmer
> dmonty@xxxxxxxxxx
> School District #73
------- End of Original Message -------