[K12OSN] Discussion on sound (not meant as a rant)

Fri Jan 19 22:52:57 UTC 2007

Thanks!  Thanks!  Looks like my weekend is going to be busy.  I'll try to
answer alot of questions so far.

My thin clients are based on the Via Epia 533 mb (Casetronic) with 128mnb
memory and 15" LCD monitors so that isn't a problem.  We do have some older
recycled PC's, but ... everyone that says they have to have sound have the
Epias.  We have 10 Windows-based desktops (certain staff members that have
to work with the state) and 3 wireless laptop labs.

The school director has been very supportive, but also has 40+
teachers/staff and next year NCS adds grades K-4 (650 students) so we will
be a K-8 charter school (1300+ students).  All students/staff/teachers  have
individual login accounts.  Maintaining this hasn't been a real issue for
the most part (4-6 hours per week mostly, after it is set up) except for the
sound issue.  The school can get donated PC's (PIII 1GHz) with Windows 2000
for essentially no cost through a state PC-recycling program that numerous
companies contribute their older systems, so I have a difficult time with
making the case that upfront, moving to Windows is more costly.  (I have my
MCSE for Windows thanks to my real job, though I am actually an engineer and
do the IT-stuff as needed)  App-wise, we use StarOffice (site license for
what, about $70.00 total?) and mostly opensource everywhere else (exception
is Type to Learn and now UnitedStreaming).  The state provides the student
attendance/class scheduling software (requires IE at present though the next
version is supposedly browser-agnostic).  I have two Windows terminal
servers to handle windows-specific apps. (one for teachers, one for
students).

My only other concern is that my switches may need to be upgraded (I have
netgear equipment, 24 and 48 port switches with Gigabit links to the
servers).  The K12LTSP servers are all dual 2.4Ghz with u320 SCSI, 8Gb
memory.  I still have that issue where I can't use the hardware RAID at
present, but  ... will sort it out eventually.

As mentioned, since sound works for things like tuxtype, I should be close
to having it all in place.  Haven't tried compiling from source in a long
time, so ... we will see. :)

I am a stickler on my licensing.  Many of the OSS-friendly companies have a
hard enough time without stretching the definition of what constitutes a
system and user.  I will contact codeweavers and see what options are
available.  As for next year when we add the other grades, I am talking with
the IT director and the school director to determine how much support I can
reasonably provide.  If they stay with K12LTSP and minimal desktops, it can
be done without much additional effort. Also, the IT director is coming
along in handling routine day-to-day issues.  If the schools goes completely
to Windows, then they will need to add a full time staff person just to
handle the sudden addition of 300+ desktop systems probably.  That is one of
the really strong points about the linux-based thin client approach: once
you have it set up, it will typically just run without many issues.

If I can just get through this deadline, then with the advances occurring
with LTSP, things should be in very good shape for next fall.

Again, thanks to everyone who responded.  I will let you know how it turns
out.  And ... if I can learn enough, all of this would be very good to put
on the wiki.  I know alot is there, but a 'from scratch with this distro'
approach can't hurt. Just have to find time.

Sincerely,
Dave Hopkins

On 1/19/07, Krsnendu dasa <krsnendu108 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 20/01/07, John Lucas <mrjohnlucas at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > As long as you have basic ESD sound working you should be able to get
> the the
> > other critical applications running. I don't know where you got mplayer
> from,
> > but when I installed it, it did not have ESD support compiled into the
> RPMs,
> > so I had to build my own from sources. To illustrate, here is the
> initial
> > result from the "mplayer -ao help" command:
> Yes It is much better to install from source. Follow the instructions@
> http://www.mjmwired.net/resources/mplayer-fedora.html
> The key point is to have esd support. It should be autodetected during
> configuration
> >
> > The other important application is Flash9. You need to compile the
> support
> > addon from RevolutionLinux:
> >
> >         http://pulseaudio.revolutionlinux.com/PulseAudio
> >
> > I have both Mplayer and Flash9 working on K12LTSP v5 (LTSP v4.2u4). It
> *can*
> > be done. It is way important to carefully follow the troubleshooting
> > instructions for LTSP sound on the wiki without skipping any steps.
> Make sure you add the cron job script that keeps Flash sound working.
> >
> > > Next, my version of LTSP still has the 'only works for first user'
> issue.
>
> > What are you intending to upgrade? If all you want is to upgrade LTSP,
> then
> > dowload the latest "ltspadmin" and upgrade. If you want to upgrade the
> base
> > OS, you *could* use K12LTSP v6 (which used Fedora Core 6 as it's base),
> but
> > at this late date, you might have to completely start over, since it
> > represents a major departure from previous LTSP versions (using muekow
> > instead of a separate LTSP distribution). I haven't tried it yet myself,
> so
> > seek those with greater experience with the new version.
>
> Correction:. K12LTSP is still based on LTSP4.2
> The next version based on Fedora Core 7 will be muekow-based. I am
> using K12LTSP6 and find it very similar to Core 5.
> However, as long as you have the latest version of LTSP 4.2, there is
> probably no need to upgrade to get sound working. I had Mplayer and
> Flash (older version) working fine with K12LTSP5. Now I have Mplayer
> and Flash 9 working well with sound. I have installed shockwave with
> Crossover Linux. With other apps I had some trouble with client sound
> in crossover (Powerpoint specifically), but I am sure others have had
> more success than me.
> I just tested Shockwave on the server. The sound works fine. I haven't
> tested it on a client yet.
>
> > > Finally, pulseaudio, asla, esd, nasd, gstreamer etc have been
> mentioned as
> > > possible solutions to the 'sound issue', but currently it appears that
> > > there isn't a firm solution.  I have been trying to get a solid
> solution
> > > for literally a few years now.  I have had sound working at varous
> times,
> > > but then it would lag so severely in videos as to be useless.
> > > Powers-that-be want (demand) a solution by February 16th.  Since I
> can't
> > > work on the systems during the day, I have weekends and some
> evenings.  I
> > > am willing to try any suggestions this  weekend.  I am not a Linux
> guru,
> > > but am also not completely new to this.
> > >
> Pulse audio and better support for local apps are very promising for
> improving sound performance but they are not easily set up in ltsp
> yet.  Hopefully in April when Meukow K12LTSP comes out. Still esd
> seems to work ok for now.
>
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