August 5th, 2009
The state of Edubuntu...Your thoughts
I haven’t had much opportunity recently to play with LTSP within any of the major distributions. Ubuntu is my desktop OS of choice everywhere except on my Mac, but the Linux Terminal Server Project, though powerful when I last used it in an Edubuntu test server early last year, was still not quite as mature as Microsoft Terminal Services or Citrix. This was easily forgiven since it worked well and was FREE.
Now, however, a friend in another school district will be rolling out Edubuntu in a library lab as her first experience with thin clients. I have no problem recommending it given my past experience with the OS, but wanted to get your recommendations on server hardware from the perspective of anyone using it more recently. Dell, interestingly, suggested that she only needed a high-end desktop. While this is probably true, it seems that server hardware, with the typical trappings of RAID, dual NICs, and plenty of high-speed RAM would be a wise investment.
Here’s the use case. Please post thoughts and recommendations in the talkbacks below.
These will be largely Internet access machines; the school is using Google Apps, so students will handle all productivity tasks, as well as search and communication, in a browser. The lab will have 30 stations and will frequently be used at capacity. Installed Edubuntu applications (e.g., some of the educational or game software) may certainly be accessed, but the real purpose is to provide 30 windows to the web.
Authentication will eventually be integrated into the school network, but for now, students will simply log into the server with generic student accounts on the thin clients and then authenticate as needed to Google Apps and other online services.
Given the current state of Edubuntu and LTSP more generally, what do you recommend for RAM, drive space, processor power, etc? This install won’t scale much, but if anyone has experience with larger numbers of clients accessing an Edubuntu server, I’d be happy to hear the good, the bad, and the ugly about scalability as well.
Thanks in advance for the feedback.
Follow Chris Dawson on Twitter! Christopher Dawson is the technology director for the Athol-Royalston School District in northern Massachusetts and a member of the Internet Press Guild. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations, but always keep in mind that the opinions expressed here are his own and not those of his daytime employer, even if he talks incessantly about his day job.
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