Well, I need to redefine my requirements then, because I am not in a position to tell these organizations how their volunteers should work.
I need something that will work for office work and for volunteers that want to do things like outreach on dodgy social sites and stuff that requires multimedia. I find its a tough sell to tell people coming from MS Windows environments that they can't expect to use YouTube anymore, or listen to a webinar. CentOS intrigues me, as does OpenSuSE- if for no other reason, than that it feels like OpenSuSE's community is more active. But, we might just try Debian- as the change would be less jarring, and Debian seems certainly more stable than Ubuntu. Basically, our particular situation isn't very well served by the six-month development cycle of Ubuntu. And their priorities no longer seem to jibe very well with ours. - Patrick Rady Administrator, npServ ----- Original Message ----- From: Peter Scheie [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [email protected] Sent: Sun, 28 Sep 2008 11:44:25 -0400 Subject: Re: [Ltsp-discuss] A crisis of LTSP faith. > Not to put too fine a point on it, but your requirement of "a desktop that > just > works- especially things like the multimedia web surfing experience" is a > contradiction in terms. It is the mulitmedia web stuff that is hard, > cutting-edge (perhaps bleeding-edge) and constantly changing and makes for > potentially unstable systems. And this is true whether one is talking about > > LTSP or Windows machines or Macs. With that said, K12LTSP-EL5's use of LTSP > 4.2 > on top of CentOS 5 is vary stable and handles multimedia web stuff like > flash > quite well. I've deployed it successfully in several office environments; > people have no trouble ignoring the educational stuff or I take it out. But > the > way multimedia works on the web is in a constant state of flux, and LTSP 4.2 > is > no longer being developed. LTSP 5 has a better, more sustainable method for > > dealing with the constant changes in multimedia, and the Ubuntu folks have > done > a lot to integrate those changes. Other distros are getting there, too. > But by > definition, some of the changes from 4.2 to 5 are still works in progress. > Nevertheless, lots of people have deployed LTSP 5 implementations with great > > success. > > If you really want stable, simple office deployment, take 'multimedia web' > off > your list of needs. Better to ask "How does multimedia web contribute to > the > company's bottom line?" which usually leads to the answer that it doesn't > and is > instead just a medium of entertainment (read, a way to waste time) for the > employees. > > Peter > > Patrick Rady wrote: > > I've been working with LTSP for about a year and a half now. Specifically, > LTSP on Ubuntu. > > > > We put LTSP-based thin client networks into nonprofits, I think that the > open source world is a good fit for the nonprofit world and doing this we > can free them from a lot of the expense of closed source. > > > > But- without making too many value judgments here, I'm starting to wonder > if we might be better off with another distro. > > > > I don't want to start a Holy War here or anything, but I am interested in > opinions... > > > > Specifically, which distros support LTSP and are suited to a > desktop/office environment. I want stability and environment for > non-computer oriented people to have a desktop that just works- especially > things like the multimedia web surfing experience and basic to intermediate > office tasks- mail merge, etc. For the most part I am not as interested in > the educational side of things- but more in creating an environment that > will cater to those migrating from Microsoft Windows in an small office > setting. > > > > > > - > > Patrick Rady > > Administrator, npServ > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's > challenge > > Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great > prizes > > Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the > world > > http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/ > > _____________________________________________________________________ > > Ltsp-discuss mailing list. To un-subscribe, or change prefs, goto: > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ltsp-discuss > > For additional LTSP help, try #ltsp channel on irc.freenode.net > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great prizes Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/ _____________________________________________________________________ Ltsp-discuss mailing list. To un-subscribe, or change prefs, goto: https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ltsp-discuss For additional LTSP help, try #ltsp channel on irc.freenode.net
