Re: [K12OSN] perhaps a radical idea

[jam mcquil com]

On Tue, 3 Feb 2004, Tom Brown wrote:

> At 12:25 AM 1/31/04 +0000, you wrote:
> >I have been using 4.0 in a production environment since the day after it
> >was released and have not had any problems yet.  If you are having
> >problems with a specific package for Fedora, then just grab a new
> >version of the app from rawhide and be done with it.
> >
> >If you are wanting to move to a new platform, it is easy enough to do.
> >All you have to do is get the source from ltsp.org and compile it
> >yourself on anything.  If you are running gentoo, just emerge ltsp-core
> >and OOo and your web browser of choice.
> >
> >What makes K12ltsp so popular is the prebundled apps with it.
> >
> >So you have suggested debian and gentoo in your message.  Does this mean
> >that the developers should start making custom .debs and ebuilds for
> >their releases instead of rpms?
> >It seems like a lot of extra work on the developers part with very
> >little gain.
> >
> >shawn
> 
> K12LTSP is an easy to install, appliance-like distro focused on one 
> application environment, K12 schools. The arguments in favor of running 
> K12LTSP atop Fedora are good. However the discussion is missing some 
> relevant arguments. The key points are stated by Bruce Perens in his 
> UserLinux whitepaper.
> 
> http://userlinux.com/white_paper.html
> 
> Packages and distros are only as good as the maintainers. Eric does an 
> excellent job maintaining K12LTSP, and folks trust him. He is clear about 
> not switching to another base distro. Some of the itchy ones (like me) are 
> moving away from RH/FCx to Debian. We're trading Eric's value-add for 
> another set of advantages. Even so I still read the K12LTSP list. And I'm 
> keeping an eye on Perens and UserLinux. If UserLinux takes off, something 
> like K12LTSP on Debian might happen. Perens mentions Skolelinux (Swedish: 
> school linux) as a notable prospective UserLinux member in his whitepaper. 
> Skolelinux is certainly aware of K12LTSP and possibly influenced by Eric's 
> work -- Skolelinux links to K12LTSP. Its a surprisingly small world in some 
> respects.



Skolelinux includes LTSP, so you are already part way there.


I was at the Desktop Linux conference back in November, when
Bruce made his UserLinux plans public.  At that time, I was
very interested in hearing about it.  Especially at a time
when I started getting interested in moving away from Redhat.

As soon as the UserLinux mailing list was created, I subscribed.
It was at that point when I saw my hopes for a really good
debian based distro fade away.  They are a very long way from having
anything substantial.

They might actually get there someday, but when they spend weeks
arguing about how they think that Python should be their "official"
scripting language, and that perl should NOT be included in the
distro, it makes me wonder if they really will succeed.

I've recently starting switching some my own systems to Debian, and I
think it can make a fine platform for a k12 type of environment.
I'm just not so sure that UserLinux is the path to get it there.

I'm not switching everything to Debian.  I think that Suse is worth
looking at as well.  Just as soon as I get a little free time, one of
my servers will be running that too.

Jim McQuillan
jam Ltsp org