RE: [Sheflug] FYI: Migrating Education Desktops to Linux

[Alex Hudson <home [at] xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, 2005-01-26 at 13:17 +0000, Chris Johnson wrote:
> My question would be "Is it not better to introduce Linux to the desktop
> through thin client rather than dual boot?"  That way you don't have to mess
> with the client PC (other than creating a boot disk/ network boot loader)
> and it doesn't matter how old the PC is performance wise if its just being a
> thin client.

But that kind of architecture change may require hardware change too -
it's okay if you're a greenfield site, but if you're not and you have to
use current hardware it's generally true that fat client is a better
fit. You might not have a powerful server, for example, or a quick
enough network, for a thin-client solution.

> One of the big differences between Linux and Widnow$ XP is boot time.  

Sad but true. Likely to be better in the distros coming out this year
though; a lot of problems have been ironed out.

> As desktop services through Linux are still developing
> centralising it all through thin clients also seems to be a better way of
> drip feeding changes without trawling round the whole network applying
> patches.

I think there are acceptable solutions for central administration now,
though. 

> Not sure if the gnome "no lock down" issue still exists in the world of thin
> client.

Well, it's identical really - Gnome doesn't really care about the
thinness of the client per se. However, I think Gnome lock-down is much
better in 2.8 and will be much better again in 2.10.

Cheers,

alex.

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