[K12OSN] OT, slightly: loading OS remotely, running locally

[Todd O'Bryan]

On May 12, 2006, at 9:05 AM, Jim Kronebusch wrote:

>> So, I was thinking, what if I had a central server that wasn't
>> responsible for *running* all the programs on the local machines,
>>  but  did serve the OS to them through PXE and hosted a common
>> filesystem
>> (including /home and /usr). Updates would occur once, students would
>>  be able to access their files from anywhere in the lab, and I could
>>  still boot Windows from the hard drive if I needed to.
>>
>> (I've also thought about setting up an image and having it auto-
>> update itself using rsync or something from a central repository as
>> a  way of automating system updates, but that seems slightly dicier.)
>
> It sounds like you want something similar to OSX Netboot but  
> running windows.

Actually, I was thinking Linux or something. We don't have a powerful  
enough server to do thin terminals, but do have machines that are  
capable of holding their own. I just don't want 30 copies of the OS.  
(And I don't want any copies of Windows if I don't have to have them.)

Todd