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List:       suse-linux-uk-schools
Subject:    Re: [opensuse-edu] what does LTSP\thin client technology mean to
From:       Andy Trevor <andy.trevor () cutterproject ! co ! uk>
Date:       2007-07-19 13:16:58
Message-ID: 469F644A.8000701 () cutterproject ! co ! uk
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James Tremblay wrote:

I have a number of schools in the uk running on LTSP.  We currently use 
SUSE 10.x as the base.

I am in the process of moving our core images to Ubuntu.  We as a 
company feel that Novell has lost part of the plot and that the 
Ubuntu/Edubuntu teams are heading in the right direction (not there yet 
but go forward in a great way).

If your below question is based on fact, it is even more reason to jump 
off now.

I can see very little advantage in using Novell products in the school 
environment, there is very little value add over and above *buntu.

I think your time and ours would be better spent adding input to the 
momentum behind Edubuntu.  No point re inventing the wheel.

The core of LTSP technology is sound and a no brainer.  The killer here 
in the UK is the lack of "quality" educational apps.

Everyone can see that thin client is a great way to get value for money, 
but until the environment can be taught on, then it will always be an issue.

More education apps is what is needed, not another distro doing LTSP.
> I have an important question. If I told you that LTSP5 was not going to
> be adopted in either openSUSE or SLE's thin client server (which only
> supports those 500$ type thin clients with flash drives, like those from
> Wyse and HP), would this influence your decisions about using Novell
> products? Would you be less inclined to buy an SLE based agreement if
> your thin client interests were only being met by Ubuntu? Would you
> simply say well I need a Linux server and I already have the Ubuntu
> server disk and I know how to use it so....? 
>
> I'm being told that Novell can't find a fiduciary reason to support LTSP
> and I keep saying that giving us this feature means that, we can and
> probably will use an SLE server to host the applications we want to go
> with it, we can and probably will use e-Directory to manage our user
> ID's, but if we have to support multiple technologies (Ubuntu and SLE)
> we will probably shift to the one that cost us less at the desktop (both
> monetarily and intellectually) simply because supporting  the desktop
> translates into learning to support the server very easily. Reminiscent
> of the shift to MS servers from Novell servers, in my opinion Novell
> lost the school server battle simply because schools don't have the time
> \money to learn\support two OSes. For how many of us is the History
> teacher who is good with windows XP, the guy who helps us maintain the
> 2003 server in that building?
>
> Is there really no money in supporting LTSP and Education specific
> products? If your answer is, "I don't really care about LTSP and it
> won't effect my decisions about my Novell purchases" then ignore me, but
> if the answer is "I rely on LTSP to help me put more desktops in the
> classroom and I really would prefer to have it managed with my other
> Novell products", then I must inform you that the likelihood of you
> being able to use LTSP5 with Novell products is slim, there are two of
> us working on integrating the bits and both of us are non-coders, we are
> merely translating some batch scripts that we can understand and
> borrowing the best parts of KIWI( a new Novell imaging technology) to
> make most of it work, which leaves: local device support, network sound,
> a descent disk-less boot process and much more undone and likely never
> to be done.
>
> Please respond to this list thread and any Novell employee you know, if
> you want this to change.
>   


-- 

*Andy Trevor*
Technical Director
*Cutter Project Limited*
18 Lynn Rd, Ely
Cambs, CB6 1DA
Phone: 08704902068
Mobile: 07983616419
http://www.cutterproject.co.uk 
-------------------------------
Sun Partners <http://uk.sun.com>Ubuntu Partners <http://www.ubuntu.com/>


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