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RE: [LUG] thin client setup at school





http://www.icp-epia.co.uk/index.html?http://www.icp-epia.co.uk/news_thincli
ent.html

anyone heard anything else RE this setup - what distro are theyt using -
and 
is it LTSP?

thanks,

kev bailey

Thanks kev for posting this

Extract from above URL
"We are delighted to announce that Churston Ferrers Grammar School in Devon,
UK, are the first customer of our new EPIA Thin Client system," said Kevan
Wells, Project Manager of ICP. 

I have my concerns about the above wording ..... please read on ......

Heres my side of the story

Last year Howard and I embarked on a project to introduce K12LTSP (V 3.1.0)
into Churston Grammer. A server was purchased along with 2 mini-ITX boxes.
The mini-itx boxes where purchased from wordsworth.co.uk in Edenbridge.
Since I can not trace them to this web address any longer, and ICP are
trading in the same town I can only assume that they have changed their
trading name. 

After setting up the 2 original boxes sucessfully, Howard ordered an
additional 18. This is where we ran into a problem, as it turned out it was
a power supply problem, because the boxes where not drawing any power for
HDD the "intelligent" power supply kept cutting out in order to protect the
motherboard. Since identifying the problem the boxes have remained fairly
stable, with the server requiring the odd reboot approx once every 2 weeks.
Our solution was to put old drives in (IDE cable not connected) just to draw
power and keep the "intelligent" power supply happy.

Please note all my assistance in the above project was purely voluntary
(incl annual leave from my day job).

As far as I am aware the then wordsworth.co.uk supplied the mini-itx
hardware and that was their only contribution to the project. 

The only reason I am mentioning all this in public is because I am concerned
that the wording on the above mentioned extract could potentially miss lead
teachers into thinking ICP provided the the entire solution. Although it is
possible that they are contributing to an extention of the above project or
an entirely new configuration (beyond purely supplying the mini-itx
hardware), Im sure Howard would have mentioned it to me.

Additonal info :-

The K12LTSP server is setup to authenticate via the existing Windows based
PDC in order to preserve single signon compatibility with existing windows
based configurations. This required minor reconfiguration of the pam
modules. Minor mods where made to the Gnome Desktop setup in order to remove
unwanted user menu items. Other than that it is a bulk standard K12LTSP
installation.

I hope the above also answered your questions on the configuration ;-)

Im off to find a cold shower somewhere.

Tom.


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