Thin Clients how to, aka the $100 per client student computer lab
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Presentation for the ITSC 2008 conference on thin clients, intended for a technical audience. Licensed under Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution United States License.
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Thin Clients how to, aka the $100 per client student computer lab
- 1. Thin Clients How To Created and displayed with open source software + Linux Presented by Brian Jamison Thin clients How To Content licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/
- 2. Brian Jamison --> Co-Founder of OpenSourcery President of POSSE Portland Open Source Software Entrepreneurs Using open source software to solve business needs since 1995 clients: Sony, Nissan, Energizer, Disney... Personally using Linux on the desktop since 2001
- 3. About OpenSourcery Founded 2004 PSU, Reed, CCC Services: Plan Install Configure Maintain
- 4. Overview What is thin? Why thin? Savings Case study Common pitfalls Questions
- 5. What is thin? Uses a single server for all heavy lifting Clients boot, run applications, store data on server, not themselves
- 6. Why thin? Savings at every stage Peace of mind Ease of maintenance
- 7. Hardware savings, client Thin client: $106 17 flat screen LCD: $171 Keyboard, mouse: $20 Total: $297
- 8. Hardware savings, server Server requires: RAM: 512mb + 50mb per client CPU: 100mhz/32 bit or 75mhz/64 bit Bandwidth: gigabit NIC Server for 60 client setup: 2 AMD 64bit dual core Opterons 4gb RAM, 160gb HD, Gigabit ethernet Total: $1741 cut that approximately in half for 30 clients
- 9. Licensing costs $0 Server operating system: $0 Client operating system: $0 Applications: $0 Educational programs, Office suite, Google Earth, Firefox, Video/audio editing, plus 20,000 others. Updates cost $0
- 10. Installation savings Server setup and configuration, about a day Per client, about 15 minutes
- 11. Hardware maintenance savings No moving parts on clients no hard drives, no fans. Avoid service calls simply replace unit with an inexpensive spare!
- 12. OS maintenance savings Client and server highly resistant to virii, spyware/malware Nothing gained hacking client Server extremely difficult to hack Can be made to automatically start clean on each login Updates delivered via the Internet for $0
- 13. Energy savings Each thin client draws 20 watts
- 14. Other advantages Centralized storage, backups USB keys for each student for individual storage allows theming, customization, history to stay with the student
- 15. Case study Charter high school with 160+ students Edubuntu Software requirements Office, Web, Google Earth Video/sound editing Fractions/algebra apps Terminal Server for Cognitive Tutor on w2k3 box
- 16. Planning Get a specific list of necessary software from admins and instructors this avoids apps sneaking in after planning consider math tutoring software, video editing, multilingual support...
- 17. Content Filtering User login defines content filtering all access or none this can be made quite complex if desired
- 18. Configuration LTSP on server Thin clients PXE boot stock Edubuntu Feisty over the network Bootsplash needed configuration to make LCD work during bootup Password protected bios On logout we auto wipe the home directory to avoid offensive leave-behinds (students use USB keys for storing their own work)
- 19. More Configuration Lockdown of browser, office suite, desktop, etc Trac to store documentation
- 20. Students cannot Install new programs Gain administrator access Get to the Internet unless approved by Instructor
- 21. Windows Terminal Server Must deploy due to decision to use a proprietary windows-based tutoring program Ironically this was the way students were able to hack out to the Internet, install proggies, etc.
- 22. The Tale of the Office Suite OpenOffice billed as Microsoft Office replacement Writer/Word: lacking collab, macro compatibility Calc/Excel: lacks macro compatibility Base/Access: not ready yet Powerpoint: lacks read-write compatibility Not for macro wizards Not for extreme spreadsheet programmers Not 100% perfect reading/writing MS formats An excellent fit for students.
- 23. Students Experience It just worked.
- 24. Common Pitfall #1 Asking a bunch of Windows folks to deploy mission-critical Linux server or services
- 25. Common Pitfall #2 Deploying open source applications before they are fully baked Hoary Hedgehog Jahshaka
- 26. Common Pitfall #3 Asking black-box gear to play nicely with open source Windows Terminal Server + Tutoring App = Pain
- 27. Common Pitfall #5 Failing to demand as much from proprietary software as open source What happens if...
- 28. Common Pitfall #6 The Accidental Tech supporting Linux How do I turn it off? The video card is broken
- 29. Common Pitfall #7 printers, Printers, PRINTERS #1 issue (in our experience) with desktops
- 30. Summary It just works.
- 31. Thank you Try a thin client at our booth! Brian Jamison [email_address] (503) 544-3558