[K12OSN] thin client laptops/Asus EEE

[James P. Kinney III]

Ugh.
Laptops require power, too. And unlike cheap desktops, laptops will
require new batteries every year or so. So there is a constant repair
process of $50/year/machine.

Laptop carts are mostly designed to park laptops when not in use. If
they aren't in use, why have them at all?

Save yourself the headache and buy designed thin clients machines
(small, lo cost, no moving parts, no Microsoft tax) and upgrade the
power with the savings in not getting M$ Office (and all the upgrades it
takes to run it in both software and hardware).

Thin clients can use wireless but not K12LTSP in the default setup. To
date, there is no way to do PXE boot over a wireless network so don't
plan on going that route. You can use a flash drive for a base Linux
system that supports wireless and then remote access X for the real
stuff but you WILL have bandwidth issues. You could do the whole freeNX
thing and do a compressed data stream but you will still have network
security issues. 

Do you _really_ want kids wandering around with the computers?

The Asus EeePC can connect to a remote X session just fine. The battery
issue will still get you in about a year.

Wireless is a myth. All electrical devices are tethered by a wire at
some point. Wires are cheap and easy to use and maintain. A 24 port
switch is under $100. You can't GET 20 students using a wireless access
point with any usable bandwidth for less than $500. 802.11g is 51Mb/s.
The cheap wire connections are 100Mb/s and don't care about the concrete
walls dropping you bandwidth down to 2Mb/s (split between 12 people!).

Wireless will not make heroes!
On Wed, 2008-04-02 at 12:13 -0400, Will Hatch wrote:
> Our school is at a juncture where we have to decide between upgrading
> the electrical system so it can handle a permanent computer lab, or go
> with laptops of some kind that run off of a cart.  The principle wants
> to go with the laptops because of cost.  I priced out a couple
> different models of Dell, that would run Windows XP, and would coexist
> with our Windows 2003 server.  But the cost is still more than we
> probably want to spend.  Wireless is a must.  
> 
> I set up a k12ltsp network a few years back with good success.  But I
> used desktop hardware and ethernet.  I am wondering how wireless works
> with k12ltsp, and if there is a recommended make/model of inexpensive
> laptop that will do the job.  Has anybody successfully set this up
> with the Asus EEE?  Thanks for any help/suggestions.
> 
> -Will
> 
> *********************************** 
> PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL: This communication, including attachments, is for the exclusive use of addressee and may contain proprietary, confidential or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, any use, copying, disclosure, dissemination or distribution is strictly prohibited. If you're not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately by return email and delete this communication and destroy all copies. 
> It is the policy of ANWSU not to discriminate on the basis or race, color, national origin, gender, disability, or gender orientation in its educational programs or activities, or in its employment policies as required by Title IX of the 1972 Educational Amendments, by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and by Vermont State Law. 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> K12OSN mailing list
> K12OSN at redhat.com
> https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/k12osn
> For more info see <http://www.k12os.org>
> 
-- 
James P. Kinney III          
CEO & Director of Engineering 
Local Net Solutions,LLC        
770-493-8244                    
http://www.localnetsolutions.com

GPG ID: 829C6CA7 James P. Kinney III (M.S. Physics)
<jkinney at localnetsolutions.com>
Fingerprint = 3C9E 6366 54FC A3FE BA4D 0659 6190 ADC3 829C 6CA7


-- 
This message has been scanned for viruses and
dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
believed to be clean.