Just a thought, are there any existing projects for any distros for 'minimalist' kernels/friends? For example, would we be able to take anything from Xubuntu and use it in Ubuntu chroot, without having to think about using a completely different distro?
It feels to me like we're trying to backtrack to the 4.2 days, wanting to take *complete* chroot control back, and, well, I'm sure there were some pretty good reasons to move away from that model (already described previously in the thread). Maybe there's a happy medium here that involves existing distro projects for older/smaller systems (like I said, Xubuntu for Ubuntu being one of the 'minimalist, low power' projects) :) Cheers, Jordan/Lns Rob Owens wrote: > On Thu, Feb 26, 2009 at 10:35:28PM -0800, Nicholas Metsovon wrote: > >> You know, this has all been real interesting. I downloaded Damn Small Linux >> (DSL) tonight. I have a real old laptop that I've wanted to find a better >> way to have it connect to our LTSP server for when I have to travel. >> >> I tried just the embedded version running on Windows, and it confirmed that >> applications on the LTSP server would run just fine using ssh -X, if I >> wanted to make some sort of menu system (or a whole bunch of links) to call >> whatever programs I wanted to run. And I could even run multiple programs >> at the same time that way. >> >> Then I had the idea to ssh -X to the LTSP server, calling NX client. I used >> it to log right back into the LTSP server, and wha-la, I had my full LTSP >> desktop! >> >> So, theoretically, a person could install DSL on some of these old >> computers, and upon startup have it call NX (or FreeNX, if you need more >> connections and don't want to pay NX for them). DSL didn't ask me for a >> password, so when the NX login dialog box shows up, it'd be like the first >> and only time the user would be asked to log in. Then, gee, you'd be >> connected to the LTSP server very much like a regular LTSP implementation. >> >> > An even easier way is to run DSL in text mode (I believe you type: DSL 2 > at the boot prompt), then run X like this: X -query myltspserver > > That'll give you a full desktop gui from the ltsp server. I have to give > credit to Les Mikesell on the K12LTSP list for teaching me this trick years > ago. > > www.thesymbiont.com has a boot stick device which does basically what we have > discussed. It loads a basic local operating system, and then connects to > an LTSP server, and NX server, a VNC server, etc. It costs money, but the > money goes to a company that participates in LTSP development. > > >> Granted, theoretically, you'd have an operating system on the clients that >> you might have to maintain; but I think that'd be minimal. (With the >> embedded approach, you could probably get away from all of that.) At the >> same time, you'd still have all of the advantages of having your LTSP server >> as the one machine you have to maintain for software & security updates. >> >> > I'd just run it off the live cd and leave it at that. > > >> You might have to tweak your DSL gui a little bit if you wanted to do away >> with it's menu and desktop, etc. -- but this might not be a bad solution for >> some of those old PC's out there. >> >> One thing - remote sound from the LTSP server didn't work on the embedded >> DSL when I ran it. But when you're trying to eek out a little more life >> from some really old machines, you might just have to be happy without some >> of the bells and whistles. (Forgive the pun, please!) 'Not to say that one >> might not be able to overcome that with a little work. >> >> > I agree that not all features are necessarily required for the older clients. > I think it's important to provide basic computing needs on old hardware, > but things like flash and sound can probably be done without (or at least > come later). > > >> It's something to consider... >> >> -- >> >> Of course, I'd like to think that there should be a way to take the DSL >> image, feed it back to a normal LTSP thin client at boot-up, so it doesn't >> even need to be installed on the client, and somehow connect to the server >> from it. >> >> -- >> >> So, Rob, if you have a couple of weeks off, does any of this sound like >> anything you'd like to play with? Maybe it could be like an add-in >> contribution for LTSP users needing this kind of remedy. >> >> > I'll see what I can come up with. > > -Rob > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Open Source Business Conference (OSBC), March 24-25, 2009, San Francisco, CA > -OSBC tackles the biggest issue in open source: Open Sourcing the Enterprise > -Strategies to boost innovation and cut costs with open source participation > -Receive a $600 discount off the registration fee with the source code: SFAD > http://p.sf.net/sfu/XcvMzF8H > _____________________________________________________________________ > 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 > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Open Source Business Conference (OSBC), March 24-25, 2009, San Francisco, CA -OSBC tackles the biggest issue in open source: Open Sourcing the Enterprise -Strategies to boost innovation and cut costs with open source participation -Receive a $600 discount off the registration fee with the source code: SFAD http://p.sf.net/sfu/XcvMzF8H _____________________________________________________________________ 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
