[K12OSN] More detailed instructions & documentation needed for K12LTSP implementation

[Petre Scheie]

If you are using the Gnome desktop (which is the default), sabayon is a graphical tool 
for configuring users' menus, desktop icons, etc.  As I recall, when I used it a few 
months ago, it allows you to make changes to one or many users and I *think* you can 
group people, too.  I don't think it's installed by default in 4.4.1; as root, run

yum install sabayon

and it will install everything for you.  Then you'll find it under some menu somewhere 
(I forget where).

If you're using KDE, I think there's a similar tool called Kiosk, but I'm not familiar 
with it.  HTH

Petre

Roj Jer wrote:
> Words from yet another newbie... please be patient.
>  
> Career Microsoft folks (like myself) wanting to move from the Microsoft 
> community to the Open Source Linux community face enormous challenges 
> when first arriving in the neighborhood. We don't understand the "lingo" 
> or even where to go to find anything that looks vaguely familiar.
>  
> I have been recruited to help design and implement a computer lab for a 
> neighborhood private school (K-12). The largest factor was $$COST$$. 
> They have a big need and a small budget. They've received a donation of 
> 30+ 100Mhz Pentium PC's with 64Mb Ram, 1GB Hard Disk, and 10/100 Nics. 
> The cost of implementing new "Dell's" was around $15,000... (way over 
> budget). What is the budget? The least expensive method possible. So, my 
> research has begun. I thought about Citrix on a Microsoft Server, but 
> there were all of the licensing $$COST$$. So, I considered researching 
> Open Source solutions.
>  
> I got super pumped when I Googled "Open Source Linux Terminal Server" 
> and the 2nd item was titled, "K12 Linux in Schools Project". I read all 
> of the "Testimonials" and "Case Studies" and determined that this was a 
> perfect match.
>  
> I downloaded the K12LTSP 4.4.1 - Install CD-ROMs and commenced to 
> installing it on a donated 1.4GHz AMD PC with 4GB of RAM. I emulated an 
> Ethernet bootrom on the client PC's by booting from a floppy disk 
> created from the http://www.Rom-O-Matic.net 
> <http://www.rom-o-matic.net/> site. Within an hour after having the 
> K12LTSP server online, I had 3 of the 100MHz Pentium PC's connected and 
> working.
>  
> Super! Great! But that seems to be where the Magic ends.
>  
> And now the point!
>  
> In the Windows world it is easy to configure the "All Users" Start Menu 
> (C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu), or customize a Start 
> Menu for a particular user. You can customize the Default User 
> environment (local machine) as a template for subsequent new users.
> When incorporating Citrix into the Mix, you can install software on the 
> Citrix server and "Publish" the application for a particular user or group.
>  
> My questions:
>  
> 1) How / Where do you configure K12LTSP to segregate "Teachers" from 
> "Students", "3rd Grade" from "12th Grade", so that each "group" gets the 
> appropriate desktop and program menu respective to their roles in the 
> school? A 3rd Grader does not need the same applications, shortcuts, etc 
> as a 12th Grader.
>  
> 2) What are other schools using for URL filtering and Surf Control to 
> keep students from "stumbling" across Porn Sites or any other topic 
> deemed "inappropriate"?
>  
> Thanks for your patience.
>  
> RJ
> 
> 
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