[K12OSN] Local-Apps setup for Firefox + Flash + Sound = Success

Josh Fryman josh.fryman at gmail.com
Sun Apr 5 06:21:23 UTC 2009


Hi all,

Following onto my earlier post, I have updated the local client image,
installed local firefox + flash + misc, and now have it running quite
nicely with sound.  From the earlier thread I was given a link to, it
sounds like sound has been the stumbling block.  My log of what
commands I used are below.

I simultaneously connected three clients to the server, ran local
Firefox on each, and then streamed various flash content.  I also ran
a few episodes of The Daily Show and YouTube videos, all with no
problem and great sound.

The one caveat I've found is that firefox does not "quit" properly
from local side when multimedia is running.  You have to manually have
a "local-apps xterm" up, and then "killall firefox" to get it to die.
I haven't quite figured out why, yet.

Also, I can report the same problem others have seen -- starting
firefox for the first time in any session is quite slow -- depending
on the machine, 10-50 seconds.  Every restart after that, though, is
1-4 seconds.  These clients have between 256M and 1024M local memory,
and between P3M-733 and P4-2G processors.  Ironically, the weakest
processor and memory loads it the fastest.

I still see some programs as excruciatingly slow off the server.
KTouch, for example, is about 1 character per 2 seconds.  (I type
very, very fast.  This is completely annoying.)  Any GL-based program
is also incredibly slow.  Does anyone know how to improve those,
without running them locally?

Has anyone tried to use Skype as a local app under LTSP?

Thanks,
Josh Fryman

[[ start with "K12Linux F10 Stable 4 x86-64" ISO on web site, install
that, run through README to get final steps configured, add extra
programs as desired ]]

[[ boot thin clients to test basic stuff all works properly ]]

[[ disconnect all thin clients ]]

[[ on server machine, login as user, "su -", and then . . . ]]

[[ my server is x86-64; the clients are i386 ]]

[root at localhost ~]# setarch i386 chroot /opt/ltsp/i386/
bash-3.2# mount /proc
bash-3.2# cat /etc/resolv.conf
bash-3.2# ping www.google.com
bash-3.2# mv /etc/resolv.conf /etc/resolv.conf.orig
bash-3.2# cat >> resolv.conf
nameserver 192.168.1.1
bash-3.2# ping www.google.com
bash-3.2# yum install vim traceroute
bash-3.2# rpm -ivh
http://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-stable.noarch.rpm
bash-3.2# rpm -ivh
http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-stable.noarch.rpm
bash-3.2# rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-rpmfusion-*
bash-3.2# yum update
bash-3.2# yum install firefox
bash-3.2# rpm -ivh
http://linuxdownload.adobe.com/adobe-release/adobe-release-i386-1.0-1.noarch.rpm
bash-3.2# rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-adobe-linux
bash-3.2# yum install flash-plugin
bash-3.2# yum install java-1.6.0-openjdk java-1.6.0-openjdk-plugin
bash-3.2# umount /proc
bash-3.2# exit
[root at localhost ~]# iptables -L
[root at localhost ~]# iptables -F
[root at localhost ~]# iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth1 -j MASQUERADE

[[ NOTE: for my machine, "eth1" is the public Internet interface;
"eth0" is tied to ltspbr0;  also, 192.168.1.1 is my local nameserver
cache on my home LAN.  Replace these two fields in the above commands
as needed. ]]

[[ reboot all thin clients ]]

[[ login as a user on a thin client ]]

[[ open a shell; run "ltsp-localapps firefox" and enjoy ]]

[[ if firefox fails to clean up after itself upon close, open a shell,
run "ltsp-localapps xterm";  in the new xterm, run "killall firefox"
]]

For those interested, the RPM sources used for flash, etc, are via
this article:  http://www.mjmwired.net/resources/mjm-fedora-f10.html




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