[12:51] Good Morning [18:18] Morning all! [18:28] Good evening Lns [18:28] Lns, I've been looking at this quide you wrote: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuLTSP/LockdownHomeDirs [18:30] hey alkisg [18:30] ok [18:30] So you're putting teachers in the admin group? [18:30] If they're in the admin group, so they can use sudo, can't they already access the files? [18:32] alkisg: where does it say teachers are in the admin group? [18:32] (only teachers and/or system administrators/techs should be a member of the "admin" group, as it is used for system administration purposes) [18:32] my setups have a 'teachers' group and a separate 'admin' group [18:32] So, can teachers access user's files? [18:33] well [18:33] i guess i could elaborate since my setups are a bit more than just on that page now [18:33] you can choose for teachers to have access [18:33] See i wrote that before i got into ACLs [18:34] so i was just looking at group permissions [18:34] Ah, you're using ACLs now? [18:34] yeah [18:34] they work pretty well for situations like that =) [18:34] i also genearally separate student homedirs from other teachers/admin staff [18:34] so i usually put students in /home/students [18:34] and then ACL that branch [18:34] So you're using ACLs in some production school and you had no major complains? Maybe I should also look into those then :) [18:35] alkisg: oh man you haven't been using ACLs? they're awesome =) [18:35] no, no complaints, just praise [18:35] i made a video on acls on youtube [18:35] Nah, in my own schools I never needed any permissions at all, but some fellow teachers are asking for them [18:35] gotcha [18:35] Oooh link link?! :) [18:35] hahaha [18:36] should be linked in the ACL tutuorial on the ubuntu wiki at the top.. [18:36] lemme find it [18:36] https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuLTSP/ACLSupport [18:36] youtube vid is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6piQXXHTmqk [18:37] Merci! [18:38] Ah, it's easy to listen to your video. I heard stgraber over skype once and I had a hard time understanding what he was saying. [18:39] hehe [18:39] yeah i used xvidcap for that video [18:39] very nice software [18:39] Have you tried gtkrecordmydesktop? [18:40] i don't recall, sounds familiar [18:42] hmm looks nice! [18:43] i think xvidcap is better suited for me though because i run VMs in a window and i can select the window only to record instead of the whole desktop [18:43] so that way i can show me logging out/in, rebooting, etc. [18:45] Hmmm I think gtkrecordmydesktop also supports that, but I haven't tried xvidcap yet. I will now :) [18:46] (btw adduser is proposed instead of useradd) [19:02] hi everyone [19:02] Hello [19:14] how do you put students into /home/students? [19:14] aren't all users created under /home? [19:16] so users' are still created under /home, but are controlled by acl [19:16] Ahmuck: you can modify /etc/adduser.conf to make it default, specify home dir during user creation, or manually move already created ones and update /etc/passwd [19:17] ah, so you are creating a sepearte directory, /home/students [19:17] are users students unable to view each other's directories [19:26] does anyone have any ideas why an ltsp-client would get stuck at the Edubuntu boot splash [19:26] seems stuck in a loop [19:33] Ahmuck: my own students can't go into each others' dirs, no [19:33] dissident: have you gone through the troubleshooting steps? [19:33] dissident: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuLTSP/ClientTroubleshooting [19:34] thanks for that Lns [19:37] plymouth [19:55] Lns: working now thanks [19:56] Lns: are you running LTSP? can you perhaps tell me a bit about your setup? [19:57] dissident: http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/ltsp/index.php?title=Ltsp_SuccessStories#Logical_Networking_Solutions_-_Northern_California.2C_USA [19:57] ta [20:02] Lns: are you more involved in the infrastructure side of things, or the software (or rather, usage thereof) side of things [20:02] um, the education side i guess [20:03] dissident: I'm basically a sysadmin, not a coder - I run my business by installing and maintaining Linux/LTSP networks in schools. [20:03] Lns: k [20:09] dissident: did you see any error messages after removing quiet/splash? [20:09] alkisg: strangely enough [20:10] i got a message about plymouth being killed [20:10] um, i hit enter and it booted [20:10] oO [20:10] so i think the update to the image made the difference [20:10] even though i'd previously done it [20:10] Heh, well if it works.. :) [20:10] it does now hehe ta [20:12] okay, question for main (highvoltage helped put me on the right track a week or so ago) - only thing, downloading a mirror would just ahve taken too long hehe. [20:13] our funder came and gave the green flag for our Education centre today. I need to get this server back to the farm (200km from here) by Thursday, its currently at my house on an ADSL connection. I want to put as much useful softwaare onto the server before i return it (no internet at all on the farm the Lab is located at) [20:14] Thursday I want to be able to demo whats possible. I know my way around the regular KDE based educational packages, as well as a few of the non-kde oriented ones. [20:14] the primary goal of this lab is to narrow the digital divide to people from an impoverished rural community. at least 30% of the users will be functionally illiterate. [20:15] i was hoping that you guys could share some of the tools you're using (and maybe how you're using them) at your labs? [20:15] dissident: you can pass "--download-only" to apt-get to retrieve packages without installing them. [20:15] wow, sounds like a really worthy endeavor [20:16] So e.g. if you think tuxpaint will be needed, but you're not sure, you can download it and install it locally afterwards, without any internet connection [20:17] you can use Keryx to create Apt-CDs for various packages [20:18] oo, ta [20:18] the project would be great, but people need to see what linux can offer [20:19] what i'm really keen on knowing is which software packages are most commonly being used by the LTSP projects [20:19] as a point of departure [20:20] dissident: why not just burn Edubuntu CDs with the software on them to install later if you need to? [20:21] Lns: do you mean the add on CDs as specified on the website? [20:21] Lns: or do you mean with the specific software intended for the install? [20:22] dissident: the CD/DVD images [20:22] those contain all of the software, and you can install via CD/DVD later in apt [20:22] i used the edubuntu dvd [20:22] 10.04 [20:22] and did the standard installation (with LTSP installation afterward) [20:22] ok [20:22] via the script on the desktop [20:25] * dissident hits the LTSP wiki [20:29] maybe i should rephrase... in your LTSP deployments, which are your top 5 most used / most effective/ software packages? [20:30] we'll be doing OpenOffice courses [20:30] running an "offline" wikipedia as a basic encyclopedia [20:32] dissident: mainly our students use Firefox, Open Office, a typing tutor, games.. younger students use things like GCompris (very good for learning computers) [20:33] Lns: k, thanks. I see these are installed by default [20:33] the -edu* packages [20:33] right [20:33] i'm assuming [20:35] Lns: where r u located? [20:35] scribus is a good package for ubuntu [20:35] Ahmuck: northern california [20:36] however, it may not work well on ltsp, because of the imges [20:36] lns, interesting. i'd think n cali would have went the ms way [20:36] Ahmuck: they usually do. It's a struggle to get open source in around here - but people are starting to catch on like wildfire [20:37] specially since our local economy is in the crapper =p [20:38] Here the economy is even worse; I wonder thought why the only stores that have people in them are the cafeterias... :D [20:40] alkisg: that's right you're in greece? [20:45] California is pretty close behind you as far as economic turmoil [20:46] hehe [20:46] no, here the government commits to open source [20:46] but then the dept. of education offer a laptop subsidy to teachers (but only if they run windows) [20:47] oO [20:47] nothing like vendor lock-in via charity [20:47] yup [20:47] that's because the subsidy is coming from ms [20:47] it's the same here [20:48] if you get your computers and software for free, then you start looking at compatibility, and training issues [20:48] if MS wants to really be a charitable source for technology, why not offer the choice of OS installation? [20:48] purely out of curiosity [20:48] what do you think of Google's new OS? [20:48] Here they gave about 120.000 netbooks to students, and fortunately we manage to convince them to be dual boot (edubuntu/windows) [20:48] supposed to be being released soon [20:48] rather, their vision for their OS [20:49] dissident: i wouldn't touch it until it's been out for a while [20:49] alkisg: that is great [20:49] ms gave the netbooks? [20:49] Nope [20:49] k [20:49] Mostly a european fund, and also 25% local funds [20:49] k [20:50] Lns: the reason MS wants to be charitable is because it benefits them [20:50] mhall119: i know..i guess it was more of a rhetorical question [20:50] it's not just MS either, that's why any corporate gives to charity [20:50] it improves their "corporate image" [20:50] * dissident should probably hit up BP for a donation sometime soon [20:51] lol [20:51] but they won't undermine their products to boost their image [20:51] dissident: they're currently donating millions of gallons of oil to my shoreline, aren't they wonderful? [20:52] hopefully BP will become a charity to renewable energy after this is over [20:52] they're the best :-P [20:52] ja, hopefully [20:53] read something recently [20:53] Lns: I think BP has already been heavily investing in alternative fuels [20:53] mhall119: that's good! they're smart [20:53] should probably follow it up :-P [20:53] Lns: they are [20:53] they wouldn't be multi-billion dollar a year companies if they weren't [20:53] i know cheveron has been doing solar powered gas stations out here a lot [20:54] kinda paradoxical, but none the less a good gesture ;) [20:54] not really, solar is good for large stationary objects like stores [20:54] not so good for small, mobile objects like cars [20:54] google's os is cloud tech [20:54] vaporware i hope [20:54] mhall119: true [20:55] * Lns wonders if any electric cars employ wind turbines in their bumpers to re-power batteries [20:55] Ahmuck: thats what i don't like about it [20:56] seriously, i don't want my personal info on the cloud [20:56] exactly [20:56] yet, you average user is going to be conned into doing just that [20:56] because its "better", "easier" etc [20:56] cloud computing has good use cases [20:57] it's just not going to replace desktops and traditional server/client networks [20:57] agreed [20:57] Lns: only if you properly define what "cloud computing means" [20:57] its probably best for 'casual users' who don't work a lot on a computer [20:57] i think for organizations its great [20:58] cloud computing is usually defined as a service provider hosting everything. [20:58] there are private clouds, but...i mean, really. [20:58] Lns: you need a definition that's different from a VPS in some way [21:00] anyone here using schooltool? [21:04] outside of ltsp is there really a good server/client platform for edu? [21:05] Ahmuck: you mean like skolelinux? [21:10] Ahmuck: DRBL [21:11] i hear people talk about zero-clients and 4-to-1 stations here and there [21:12] but LTSP, in my research anyway, has been the best of those choices [21:14] * alkisg tried to use DRBL and had to reinstall Ubuntu afterwards :-/ [21:14] has used drbl [21:15] have also heard of 1 machine, 4 clients [21:15] but i'm not sure i'd use ltsp either [21:59] thanks for you inputs guys [21:59] * dissident has his work cut out for him [21:59] hehe [21:59] night [21:59] Ahmuck: have you tried the LTSP fat client support in Lucid? [22:01] It's completely different, it doesn't transfer screens over the network... [23:13] alkisg: how come I can't find the 'install-LTSP' script on my desktop after install of edubuntu? [23:13] hmmmm... [23:14] * alkisg has not tried to install ltsp from the edubuntu dvd yet... [23:15] Is there some way documented somewhere? [23:23] Would someone list the steps/commands for me? I'll try it out, recording the details as it goes along and write them up on the ubuntu wiki.