[K12OSN] LTSP for video-streaming room?

[Jim Kronebusch]

> 1) ability to track who is watching what, when they logged in 
> and when they logged out,
> 2) be able to provide streaming video to about 30 clients in 
> the room in good video and audio quality, and
> 3) have a very basic (either touch screen or mouse-only) 
> interface to select the video, pause, rewind/FF, and stop.
> 
> Could I use ltsp to do so?  Or am I stretching it here?

We used a Safari/Dynacom Video Distribution system here in the past for
a simalar system for teachers.  It was headed up by a Windows NT server,
an array of VCR's, DVD's, and Laser Disc players.  We had to load the
media for them but they were able to use software to control operation
of the videos.

You most likely want to ditch the physical media and go completely
digital.  So you will have to convert all of your tapes to a digital
format first.  After that I believe Les Mikesell has recommended
VideoLAN for this type of delivery in the past over LTSP.  Basically
just have a folder full of videos organized however you want and give
them VideoLAN to play the videos.  Shouldn't be too complex, just time
consuming.

Next phase would be to add the ability to log in the way you want.
Easiest solution would be a clipboard by the entry way and go with the
honor system, or a terminal in kiosk mode or something and a database
screen for entry.  Maybe you could tweak some of the scripts from a
Coffee Shop management system for the login info.  

Knowing what someone is viewing may be tough.  But if you get that far
the main struggle is over.  Maybe TeacherTool could have some
functionality added into it to display the current application open and
the filename it is accessing.  This could be usefull in a school setting
as well.

I don't think you are stretching things at all.  Tracking seems to be
the only part to figure out.

Make sure you plan in a large SCSI array and possibly a dual Gigabit
ethernet settup to the server to handle the network load.  Does anyone
know if the clients are capable of handling gigabit?  Would such a thing
help with this type of setup?

Good luck


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