[K12OSN] New K12LTSP installation

[Rob Owens]

jeff williams wrote:
> Greetings...
> 
> I've been monitoring the e-mail list for about 4 months and have a couple of 
> questions.
> 
> 1.  Is the latest / greatest K12LTSP 6.0.0 as seems to be indicated on the 
> download page of the K12LTSP Wiki?
> 
You should use 5.0EL, because it has something like 5 years of security 
updates left.

> 2.  Is there really an advantage in speed going with 64 bit rather than 32 bit 
> for the server?  I ask because I can test 32 bit locally, and don't have 64 
> bit available.  BTW, the lab will be 20 seats in a K-8 environment.  I'm 
> planning on running a lightweight window manager rather than KDE or Gnome.
> 
> 3.  The lab will need to also speak to a Windows server for legacy student 
> files, thus I am looking at Samba and smbmount.  Any problems in sharing data 
> this way?
> 
> 4.  Is there a good writeup on load sharing between two K12LTSP servers if we 
> decide to go a bit fancy?
> 
I haven't tried it, but here's what I would try if I had time: 
http://k12ltsp.org/mediawiki/index.php/DHCP_Failover-Load_Balancing

> 5.  I'm going to be purchasing new small form factor diskless workstations for 
> the lab.  Are there any noted problems with either the Devon IT 6020 series 
> or the eBox-2300 and K12LTSP 6.0.0?  (It looks like the Diskless Workstations 
> LTSP Term 1000 is a rebranded eBox-2300.  Is this correct?)
> 
The ebox 2300 is adequate for office stuff, but I've found it to be a 
little bit too slow for my needs.  Screen updates are a little jumpy 
(for instance, when dragging the scrollbar on a long spreadsheet).  I've 
never tested games on it, but I imagine they would not test well.  By 
the way, I'm running K12LTSP 5.0EL

> 6.  Are there any other words of wisdom you would like to supply?
> 
You could also try the latest Ubuntu which has LTSP 5 in its 
repositories.  It's pretty easy to set up, but not quite as dead-simple 
as K12LTSP.  You should at least look into the differences between LTSP 
4.2 (included in K12LTSP) and LTSP 5.

> BTW, I have been playing with LTSP/K12LTSP off and on for about 5 years, but 
> have not done a full, not-recovered-from-the-dumpster installation before.  
> My test server is a PIII/450 which was given to me.
> 
> I am very, very impressed with the ease of making K12LTSP work, and am looking 
> forward to getting this lab in to production.
> 
> Many thanks.

Good luck, not that you really need it!

-Rob
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