Dear Matt Price, To follow up on Matt's suggestion, this is a good way to do what you want.
If you need any help, do not hesitate to contact me. There is a great deal of interest in getting this out now that we have validated the system. Regards, Paul > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: cluster/lab/thin clients question... (Matt Zimmerman) > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Sun, 11 Sep 2005 15:05:58 -0700 > From: Matt Zimmerman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: cluster/lab/thin clients question... > To: [email protected] > Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > > On Thu, Sep 08, 2005 at 11:59:50PM -0400, Matt Price wrote: > > Hi there, > > > > I've just discovered edubuntu and am starting to think it might be > > helpful for a project I'm workingo n, but want to get some advice. > > > > I run a beginning computer course in a local housing project with a > > mostly-immigrant population; students refurbish donated computers, > > install Ubuntu, and take the computers home. It's a neat programme, and > > I'm glad to be able to do it. > > > > I've just received a fairly large number of computers, many more than I > > can hand over to students this year. I'll end up with about 30 extra > > Pentium-II's and a handful of Pentium-III's. I've been thinking it > > would be nice to set up a proper computer lab with this equipment, but > > I'm not sure of the best way to go about it and am hoping for some > > advice. here are some features I'd like to have: > > > > - centralized user profiles, so a user can log in on any machine and > > have everything work just the way she set it up last time > > - relative simplicity in the setup process -- I'm doing this mostly on > > my own and I'm really not a networking expert. > > - some kind of software -- maybe instant messaging? -- that demonstrates > > to students how the computers are all connected. > > A thin client configuration would be your best option for this hardware. It > requires few resources on the client machines, is easy to set up, and > centrally administered (all user accounts and data are maintained on the > server). > > > - optimal use of scarce CPU and memory resources -- not all the > > computers are likely to be in use at any given time, so it would be nice > > to be able grab idle cycles from other machines if at all possible > > This is called clustering, and isn't very suitable for low-powered machines > or slow networks. A thin client configuration allows you to use these > low-powered machines by sharing the resources of a centralized server, which > is a simpler and more efficient method. > > -- > - mdz > > > -- edubuntu-devel mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/edubuntu-devel
