Hi Richard On 01/05/2012 13:44, Richard Doyle wrote: > Now that Ubuntu 12.04 LTS is out, its time to consider moving on from > our Edubuntu 10.04 setup. There are lots of distros that use LTSP, > including: > > Edubuntu 12.04 (Ubuntu 12.04) > Skolelinux 6.0.4 (Debian Squeeze) > K12Linux EL6 (Fedora 14) > KIWI-LTSP (openSUSE 12.1) > > I'll probably rebuild our classroom network from scratch this summer, > and am inclined toward Skolelinux because I'm an old Debian/Ubuntu user, > and I dislike Debian's default Gnome shell less than I dislike Ubuntu's > default Unity shell.
Firstly, I'm biased on two levels. I'm a huge Debian fan and also an Edubuntu contributor, but alas... I'd avoid K12Linux EL6 simply because everything in there is super outdated. Additionally, Fedora 14 isn't supported by Fedora anymore, I doubt they're carying all the security updates, etc themselves. I used K12Linux in the past and I think the team behind it does a good effort, but I don't think it's a good option anymore (and I'm sorry to say that). I don't know much about openSUSE, so I can't say much about it. Things to check though... Do they have many packages available (maybe install a test system and see if all your usual day-to-day stuff is available). I tried out RHEL recently and more than half of my usual packages isn't available on there. It was very frustrating. Also check how long it's supported for, if the current release expires before the next summer it might not be that useful. I know a while back Kiwi-LTSP was a fork of LTSP and wasn't proper-LTSP. Perhaps that changed, but it's worth while checking out though. Proper LTSP has had a lot of improvements recently and it would be a shame to miss out on them. Skolelinux, it's good. It does a lot. It has a server component that sets up LDAP and central auth and all the nice things that goes with it. 6.0.4 still has around 2 years of support left. Not bad. It's strongest point is that it's Debian. Nothing matches it in terms of package quality + quantity. LTSP is well maintained in Debian by an upstream LTSP developer. As someone who works on Edubuntu, I tend to focus on the flaws more than it's positive sides (since I usually have to think of where to prioritise my work), so it's a shift for me to have to think of the positives. It doesn't have an easy central authentication configuration like Skolelinux, but you could set up something like that manually (your school probably already has something else for that, if you have AD you can even integrate with that using SSSD). It has good LTSP support, the LTSP Ubuntu packages are maintained by an upstream LTSP developer and 5 LTSP upstream developers contribute to Edubuntu as well. It inherits the wealth of packages available from Debian. There's also a process where app developers can get their packages into the system post-release. In Edubuntu we want to take more advantage of this and drastically expand the amount of software available for the platform over the next few months and years. It's supported for 5 years on the desktop, starting last month. That means you could upgrade in 2 years for 14.04... or in 4 years for 16.04, whatever happens to be more convenient. Ubuntu changed LTS policy so that for the first 2 years of an LTS release, Xorg and the kernel will be backported in the updates. This means that you can continue to buy new hardware and plug in new webcams and 3G cards and they'll just continue working without having to upgrade to a whole new OS release. To me, Edubuntu sounds like a pretty sweet deal, but hey, I'm biased :) -Jonathan ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Live Security Virtual Conference Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/ _____________________________________________________________________ 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
