[K12OSN] OT: Apple Imac lab

[Almquist Burke]

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On Feb 27, 2009, at 12:15 PM, David Hopkins wrote:

> Ok, I have been asked to determine if it makes sense to acquire a lab
> of Apple Imac ( www.apple.com/imac/specs ) and then PXE boot them when
> they are not being used for video/audio processing classes. I know I
> could configure them to mount home directories for users but that is
> not what I'm being asked about.  I'd prefer to stay with thin clients
> except as far as I know there aren't any simple, easy-to-use
> video/audio editing packages that 'just work' on thin clients. This is
> for grades 5-8.  Perhaps the ability to run local apps with K12Linux
> solves this?
>

	I wouldn't do AV editing on thin clients. In general, it's one of  
the more demanding things a client can do. Also, why buy expensive,  
high end macines if you aren't going to use that kind of performance.
	What you CAN do is buy lab of iMacs, just enough for AV editing (or  
any other really intensive applications), and hook them up as  
workstations that authenticate using LDAP and allow users access to  
their home file system using NFS, CIFS, or AFP etc. What I usually  
recommend in a school setting, is putting LDAP and NFS and/or CIFS  
home directories on a central server, probably CENTOS5, or something  
else really stable. It doesn't need a ton of horse power, mostly just  
RAM and and really good storage system (like raid 5 on some fast disks.
	Then your iMacs and the server(s) for your thin client lab(s) can  
authenticate and share storage on a central system. This also let's  
you run the latest/greatest LTSP on your thin clients without mucking  
around with their logins and data, since you keep that on a more  
stable server (makes upgrading the thin client server easier too,  
since there isn't much important data on it.
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