[K12OSN] K12LTSP vs. Ubuntu

[Andy Rabagliati]

On Mon, 20 Nov 2006, David Trask wrote:

> "Support list for open source software in schools." <k12osn at redhat.com>
> writes:
> >
> >I am currently using K12LTSP 5 and am curios as to how it compares to
> >ubuntu as a LTSP.? I have tried using edubuntu as a desktop, but it
> >seems I always have some flaky things happen (don't ask me what, I do
> >not remember). Can you guys/gals provide feedback on your experiences?
> 
> Are you using the latest (Edgy Eft) version of Edubuntu?  There are MAJOR
> differences between that one and the earlier (Dapper or 6.06 LTS) release.

I have only used it in small setups so far, but the Edgy version of
Edubuntu is a long way ahead of dapper.

A from-scratch install works out of the box, USB sticks as well. Looking
under the hood, it has some nice new magic that uses ssh for
communication.

Some differences from LTSP 4.2 are :-

* Client boots, does the nfs mount of the client environment, and runs
  ldm locally via NFS to collect login information.

* X is run locally (of course), but connects via ssh/xsession using the
  user login.
  It also has an unsecured (xhost +) TCP connection - it could be run
  with "nolisten tcp", but is not. xdmcp is gone.

* The ssh session uses a /tmp unix socket in master mode, so other ssh
  sessions from the client can go straight through - in particular the
  USB signalling uses this.

* The client environment is built using the main Edgy packages, allowing
  packages to be installed in the local environment easily. I use 
  "chroot /opt/ltsp/i386; aptitude install foo" for that.

  This is the main benefit of the Ubuntu way of doing things. I have not
  tried local apps / fat diskless clients, as then the client would need
  to have knowledge of user ids to run processes under, but when
  NetworkAuthentication arrives this will not be difficult. You could
  run apps now as (local) root, but they would not have knowledge of the
  users home directory - for that you need NetworkAuthentication
  and nfs home directories.

There is still a little untidiness with Edgy Edubuntu, but it is far 
ahead of Dapper Edubuntu (like .. it works) and is obviously the
development path. A lot of work has been done here.

Cheers,     Andy!