I did some testing for you on a few of my systems. CentOS / LTSP 4.2 -- music works, but sound on YouTube doesn't. I installed an Alsa-ESD package to get music to work. I didn't do anything in attempt to get YouTube sound to work, but I hear there are some using it successfully.
Debian Etch / LTSP 4.2 -- The one Java Applet I tested worked. Debian Lenny / LTSP 5 -- music works. I tried to test YouTube, but I'm running a 64-bit system which makes installing Adobe Flash a bit of a hassle. I installed Gnash, and YouTube didn't like it (I wasn't even allowed to hit "play" -- I guess it detected that flash wasn't installed). -Rob Jordan Erickson wrote: > Rob/all, > > I've been following this thread closely, and it seems a LOT of people > are still on LTSP 4.2 and either CentOS or Debian. > > I have to ask, being an Ubuntu-only LTSP shop (right now, anyway) - are > there issues regarding Firefox? OpenOffice? Crashes of any kind? Do you > use Java web browser plugins? Flash? Light multimedia? How do they > perform under 4.2 and your distro compared to LTSP 5? My clients require > all of these things, and if there's a distribution other than Ubuntu > that can provide all of these things, with increased stability, it might > be worth trying (even if it means reverting back to 4.2). The thing is, > they are mostly all elementary schools, so they *do* need to have things > like Flash, Java, and STABLE browsers (I.E. don't crash consistently > during normal browsing or using Java applets) and office productivity > suites (Firefox/pixmap crashing issues in 2.x series was a horrible let > down, and 3.x seems to suffer from new bugs under multi-user servers > with even *creating* user profiles OpenOffice seems to crash on a > semi-regular basis for no reason, all of this on Ubuntu 7.10/8.04). Is > it just the specific versions of these apps in Ubuntu that's causing the > chaos and instability? Do the other distros have workarounds for LTSP > 4.2/5 for these issues that Ubuntu doesn't? > > I do realize these applications are completely outside the scope of LTSP > and probably suffer the same bugs regardless of LTSP version - but jeez, > I sure don't seem to see a lot of people complaining that AREN'T Ubuntu > LTSP users regarding these apps. Maybe I'm just not looking hard enough? > > Regards, > Jordan/Lns > > > Rob Owens wrot/e: >> 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. >>> >>> >> I'm currently using: >> >> LTSP 4.2 on Debian Etch >> K12LTSP 5.0EL (LTSP 4.2 on CentOS 5) >> >> These have proven to be very dependable. I can't say for sure that all >> multimedia works perfectly, because I don't use stuff like YouTube all >> that much. Sound definitely works for things like playing music. >> Overall I've been very happy with these systems. >> >> I've tested: >> >> LTSP 5 on Ubuntu Hardy >> LTSP 5 on Debian Lenny >> >> I didn't have much luck with Hardy. That was partially due to my >> specific thin clients, I think. Debian Lenny performed much better for >> me. In fact, that's probably what I'll be switching to shortly. >> >> If you find that you regularly need the latest and greatest, you could >> consider using Debian Testing. Lenny is "testing" right now, and will >> be the next stable release. But you can stay with "testing" >> permanently, and it will be like a rolling release. You'll have >> frequent updates available. I find that I get about the same volume of >> updates with Testing as I do with Ubuntu 7.10 or 8.04. But the Debian >> Testing updates give you new versions, unlike Ubuntu. >> >> However, with updates comes the risk that something may break. I've >> been using Debian Testing for the past 6 months or so on a laptop, >> updating regularly, and haven't experienced any breakage. But 6 months >> isn't a really long time, so you might want to hear from some more >> long-term users of Testing. >> >> -Rob >> ******************************************************** >> >> The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to >> which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged >> material. If you are not the addressee, any disclosure, reproduction, >> copying, distribution, or other dissemination or use of this transmission in >> error please notify the sender immediately and then delete this e-mail. >> E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error free as >> information could be intercepted, corrupted lost, destroyed, arrive late or >> incomplete, or contain viruses. >> The sender therefore does not accept liability for any errors or omissions >> in the contents of this message which arise as a result of e-mail >> transmission. If verification is required please request a hard copy >> version. >> >> ******************************************************** >> >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> 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 ******************************************************** The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. If you are not the addressee, any disclosure, reproduction, copying, distribution, or other dissemination or use of this transmission in error please notify the sender immediately and then delete this e-mail. E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error free as information could be intercepted, corrupted lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses. The sender therefore does not accept liability for any errors or omissions in the contents of this message which arise as a result of e-mail transmission. If verification is required please request a hard copy version. ******************************************************** ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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
