[ExeterLUG] Exwick Community Centre LTSP - was Re: Fwd: [LUG] Exwick Ark Progress - and do you want to meet up in September in Exeter? Any projects people want to pursue in the area?

[Daniel Smith]

On 02/09/2014 21:16, Rob Beard wrote:
> On 2 September 2014 20:33, Daniel Smith <dan at todayintech.co.uk> wrote:
>>
>> On 02/09/2014 17:25, Paul Sutton wrote:
>>> So the same people are still running the Exwick community association
>>> its just the building is now owned by the council.
>>>
>>> In which case it should be fine,  I had the idea of some new people
>>> coming, in and never having heard of Linux decide its easier to rip
>>> everything out and use windows.
>>  From what it sounds like I think the Council are in charge of the building not the ECA otherwise we would get it at a much lower rate or free like we did before.
>>
>> Guess it is up to them at the end of the day what they want to do with the network, doubt the PCs they have would support Windows very well.
>>
>> Dan
>>>
> First of all, apologies if this comes out in HTML with bad formatting,
> or klingon or whatever, we're switching to Google Mail for Business at
> work and I'm still getting the hang of the interface.
>
> I guess at the end of the day, they've had the Internet Cafe in for 6
> years now (or there abouts, IIRC it was finished just after I got
> married in 2008... I never knew it would last longer than my marriage
> :-P).  If you ask me, the kit has done well, I mean the clients are
> circa 2000 Pentium 3 machines and were really slow when we fitted
> them, now they're really really old (as old as my eldest daughter) so
> they might well be due for replacement, either with newer old kit
> (maybe something made in the last 4 or 5 years?) or maybe something
> else.
>
> At the time the idea about using old kit was that it meant that the
> kit was saved from going to landfill, and I think 14 years is a pretty
> good life span for an old machine.  The kit is now getting a bit retro
> but might be good for setting up and running old games on (network
> Doom anyone?).
>
> If we stuck with LTSP I'd suggest the OS on the server was upgraded to
> something supported (maybe not Ubuntu with Unity as I doubt that would
> run too well over LTSP), but possibly another *Buntu distro or
> something (Mint, Debian, CentOS whatever).  I'd say something with
> long term support again (Ubuntu 14.04 LTS and Mint LTS releases are
> supported until something like April 2019, I gather Debian is also now
> going to be supported long term, can't comment on other distos).
> Using a newer PC opens up the options for local apps running on the
> PCs but stored on the server (such as Firefox or Chrome with Flash)
> which would ease the load on the sever (running Flash over LTSP was
> painfully slow and hammered the server's CPU).  The server is a Quad
> Core Xeon (2.4GHz I think, equivalent to a Core 2 Quad) with 4GB Ram
> and IIRC 2 x 250GB hard drives in a hardware RAID array.  It also has
> Dell integrated lights out (although I'd expect as they've replaced
> kit down there it's probably not got the port forwarding setup for
> external access).
>
> Other than a PC, I don't know how well Raspberry Pi's run LTSP, I
> remember seeing someone was working on an LTSP client distro for them.
>
> Or maybe they could have just plain old desktops (or even old laptops
> attached to external keyboards and mice and their existing monitors)
> running <insert favourite OS here>.
What about Debian with LXDE? Seeing as a Pi runs this, guessing it's 
modified for the hardware although I am dreadful with Debian and audio 
and dont know if it would even work
>
> I guess it depends who is going to support it.  Back when I originally
> did the LTSP server I committed to it because I was working in Exeter,
> now I'm working in Newton and living in Torquay I rarely go to Exeter
> and can't warrant the cost of fuel all the time going up there (hence
> why I don't always get to LUG meetings or Pi Jams up there).
If I knew more about LTSP I would try and do something however that is 
waaaaay above what I can do.
>
> I'm happy to help out where I can, possibly even arrange a day to go
> up and sort it out, but ideally we need the community centre to give
> us access to the router to setup port forwarding,and even better if we
> can convince them to upgrade to FTTC... the ADSL out there is
> painfully slow but I'm pretty certain they have an FTTC cab just a few
> metres away, and my god does it make all the difference!
>
> Other option is if they pay to get someone in... would be lovely if
> they paid us to help them out (even fuel/pizza expenses), or they
> could go to XYZ Windows Company and buy all new singing and dancing
> Windows 8.1 machines with Office 20XX, I guess it's up to them what
> they want to do :-)
>
> Rob
>