[K12OSN] K12LTSP vs. Ubuntu
Andy Rabagliati
andyr at wizzy.com
Sat Nov 25 23:32:43 UTC 2006
On Mon, 20 Nov 2006, David Trask wrote:
> "Support list for open source software in schools." <k12osn at redhat.com>
> writes:
> >
> >I am currently using K12LTSP 5 and am curios as to how it compares to
> >ubuntu as a LTSP.? I have tried using edubuntu as a desktop, but it
> >seems I always have some flaky things happen (don't ask me what, I do
> >not remember). Can you guys/gals provide feedback on your experiences?
>
> Are you using the latest (Edgy Eft) version of Edubuntu? There are MAJOR
> differences between that one and the earlier (Dapper or 6.06 LTS) release.
I have only used it in small setups so far, but the Edgy version of
Edubuntu is a long way ahead of dapper.
A from-scratch install works out of the box, USB sticks as well. Looking
under the hood, it has some nice new magic that uses ssh for
communication.
Some differences from LTSP 4.2 are :-
* Client boots, does the nfs mount of the client environment, and runs
ldm locally via NFS to collect login information.
* X is run locally (of course), but connects via ssh/xsession using the
user login.
It also has an unsecured (xhost +) TCP connection - it could be run
with "nolisten tcp", but is not. xdmcp is gone.
* The ssh session uses a /tmp unix socket in master mode, so other ssh
sessions from the client can go straight through - in particular the
USB signalling uses this.
* The client environment is built using the main Edgy packages, allowing
packages to be installed in the local environment easily. I use
"chroot /opt/ltsp/i386; aptitude install foo" for that.
This is the main benefit of the Ubuntu way of doing things. I have not
tried local apps / fat diskless clients, as then the client would need
to have knowledge of user ids to run processes under, but when
NetworkAuthentication arrives this will not be difficult. You could
run apps now as (local) root, but they would not have knowledge of the
users home directory - for that you need NetworkAuthentication
and nfs home directories.
There is still a little untidiness with Edgy Edubuntu, but it is far
ahead of Dapper Edubuntu (like .. it works) and is obviously the
development path. A lot of work has been done here.
Cheers, Andy!
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