[09:27] hi, i need help setting up a classroom with edubuntu [09:28] kidar: hi, ask your questions, and if someone knows the answer, he will probably answer. [09:33] i have managed to setup a server using ltsp. created a user and managed to logon using thin client. now i need to setup the server so that the teacher can monitor the thin clients [09:34] sudo apt-get install italc-master [09:34] That should do it... italc.sourceforge.net is the program web page, if you want to read more [09:35] will it work with edubuntu 10.04? [09:35] Yes [09:35] (unless you hit any bugs, e.g. on a specific lab it used to crash on me every few seconds - on other labs it worked fine for years) [09:35] do i need to install anything for the thin clients? this is a first for me so pls dont be annoyed with the questions [09:36] No. Just install italc-master and ensure that the teacher is in the admin group, [09:36] then logoff / logon the teacher, and then logon the user [09:36] It should automatically be able to monitor the user, and even take control of his screen [09:37] in the new version of edubuntu under add programs there is a program called controlaula [09:38] when u say teacher u mean i need to create another user as a teacher and use that user to logon to the server? [09:38] * alkisg doesn't like controlaula at all, it's very non-professional [09:39] About the teacher, yes, something like that [09:39] The teacher accound needs to be a member of the admin group [09:39] The default account you created as part of the installation can be used as well [09:39] (it's already in the admin group) [09:40] Just remember to logoff/logon after installing italc [09:41] ok, will try that. now for creating users (the children accounts) how would i do that, meaning i want to give them access for now only to the education stuff and office? [09:43] one question how would i be abl to setup thin clients and normal pc to logon to the same server [09:43] What do you mean "normal pcs to logon to a server"? [09:43] Have you done that somehow? [09:43] (e.g. with LDAP?) [09:44] see i have the edubuntu server setup with ltsp [09:44] To create users, just use the gnome users-admin program [09:45] now i want other pcs in the class room which are not thin clients to be monitored by the same server [09:45] You can install italc on them too [09:45] regarding users how can u prevent them from deleting programs of the server? [09:46] They can't, they don't have the rights [09:46] If you create a normal user from the gnome users-admin dialog (and not an administrator), then that user cannot delete programs [09:47] ok [09:47] would the dhcp running for ltsp give out an IP to a normal pc on the same network? [09:48] Yes [09:48] Unless you use 2 NICs on the edubuntu server [09:49] One for the thin clients and another for your existing network [09:49] But you can also use your existing dhcp server and remove the one from edubuntu [09:49] i do, one is setup for the the ltsp and the other is on my internet network [09:50] Then your dhcp server will only be used for the card with IP=192.168.0.1 (or the one you specify) [09:52] is there a way of also managing the thin clients ? [09:53] What do you mean "managing"? [09:53] i mean for the classroom should i be doing anything else? [09:56] I can't think of anything [09:57] ok 1 more question, firstly thank u very much for italc u are great [09:58] no i need to know whether italc works on both nics or only one [09:59] because i just ran it on the server and now it picks up my laptop which is on the internet nic [09:59] It runs on both [09:59] So you can manage both thin clients and normal pcs [09:59] will it pick up the thin clients(ltsp) on the other [09:59] (and even windows pcs) [10:00] great u r a star. do u know by the way if there is a version out in zulu. on sunday i went to a rural community center where they have some old pcs and 1 new one thought i could load edubuntu there [10:02] I've no idea about zulu [10:03] just by the way, i am based in durban south africa, going to do 3 schools here, so if i can be of some help, i would not mind [10:06] Nice - I think highvoltage is from africa as well - I'm from Greece myself. [10:06] You may want to check about the new fat client support in 10.04 too [10:07] (instead of maintaining normal PCs, you boot those from the ltsp server too but as fat clients, not thin) [10:07] meaning, i am still new [10:08] where do i find help on the fat clients? booting from them will use less resource from the ltsp server correct? [10:09] It would use the local client CPU + RAM [10:09] What are your client specs? [10:09] How much RAM do they have, and what CPUs? [10:11] the clients are acer, p4 3.0ghz, 512 [10:11] they all have hard drives [10:12] Yeah they'd work better as fat clients than as thin [10:12] https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuLTSP/FatClients [10:13] And if they have a local swap partition, also put USE_LOCAL_SWAP=True in lts.conf [10:16] do i need to install ubuntu on the fat clients? [10:18] the current config of the clients is windows xp at the moment, i just took away the server, which has pf 3.0ghz 1gig ram and 250gig sata hd [10:19] the class room has 24 pcs, so going to purchase additonal 3gig to make 4 [10:19] No, you don't need to install ubuntu on the fat clients [10:19] Your setup is similar to what we use here in greece [10:20] Do your clients support "boot from network"? [10:20] (if they have onboard cards, usually yes, but if they have pci cards, usually not) [10:20] i guess so :) as they are p4's with on board nics [10:21] i have another school that has pci cards and they are using win98 curently [10:22] I guess those would work best as thin clients [10:22] the pci cards are realtek, but need to check the bios i guess as these are old pcs p4 1.6ghz [10:22] I put grub4dos on our windows 98 labs, and load gpxe so that they can boot from network without using a floppy / cd etc [10:23] For windows 2000/XP/Vista labs we even developed a tool based on the debian installer, which again puts a "boot from network" option in the windows bootloader [10:24] talk to me maybe i should do what u did, did u remove ur windows xp? [10:24] No we don't touch them at all, except for the boot loader [10:25] So any teacher that needs to work on XP can do so. So most of our labs are dual boot, windows + ltsp [10:25] i will be very glad to do the same here [10:26] We even developed an italc replacement that lets us manage thin + fat client labs, but currently it's in greek only - we will internationalize it after 2 years. http://wiki.ubuntu-gr.org/sch-scripts/screenshots [10:26] Here's the boot manager for 2000/XP/Vista (it's not working on windows 98 nor on windows 7): http://users.sch.gr/alkisg/tosteki/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=2136.0;attach=1617 [10:27] For the windows 98 labs, the easiest way is to use a floppy from: http://rom-o-matic.net/gpxe/gpxe-1.0.0/contrib/rom-o-matic/build.php [10:29] downloade first one. [10:29] so with the win 98 i need to boot using the floppy? [10:30] There's another way, with grub4dos [10:30] go for it, i am open to all the suggestions [10:31] Here's a google translation of a how-to I wrote a while back: http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fusers.sch.gr%2Falkisg%2Ftosteki%2Findex.php%3Ftopic%3D1451.0&sl=auto&tl=en [10:32] (you only need that how-to for windows 98, not for xp) [10:33] very nicely done. [10:34] may i ask what do u do in greece [10:35] I'm a teacher, but I'm also in charge of deploying LTSP in greek schools [10:36] So I joined the LTSP development team a while back, helped in fat clients implementation, wrote 2-3 ltsp installation manuals in greek, developed sch-scripts etc [10:36] nice, u teach IT/ Linux i guess [10:37] I'm teaching in secondary schools, so nothing fancy - some openoffice, some web, a little programming in logo... [10:37] (IT teacher, yeah) [10:38] i have my own IT company, worked for UNHCR in the IT section for 12yrs ,now on my own like ubuntu and want to roll it out to s many people schools, etc as i can [10:39] tell me can u send the file grubpxe.zip here. i am having a problem downloading from ur page [10:39] Heh I forgot I also wrote that how-to in english: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuLTSP/grubgpxe [10:40] Just click on that link: http://users.sch.gr/alkisg/tosteki/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=1451.0;attach=830 [10:41] done. so are u always here?, as u have solved 99% of my problems :) [10:42] :) [10:42] I usually am, but I hope to be away for the next 2 years to finish a phd that I've started [10:42] I like it here too much though so I don't know if I'll be able to stay away for long :P [10:43] goning to ask u a really silly question, in edubuntu they say they have stuff from primary to tertiary, where do u find this info. i have loaded it but what do i use? [10:44] u are an asset here [10:44] Educational programs usually are in the Applications > Education menu [10:47] yeh i know but nothin to point ot secondary or primary. anyway now i am going to test all that u helped me with. [10:48] There's "edubuntu menus" to separate different groups [10:48] OK, give all this a go and if you have any problems you can always come back :) [10:49] i actuall have it installed on my laptop as the only os [10:49] thx once again will be back to let u know how it went [11:05] hi it is kidar again [11:06] when i booted my laptop using thin client, the italc did not pick the laptop [11:07] hi alkisg it is kidar we chatted just now [11:07] Hi [11:08] So you installed italc-master on the ltsp server, logged off, then logged back on with a user that is in the admin group, and then booted your laptop as a thin client, and it doesn't see it? [11:08] yeh [11:09] Did you login on the thin client? [11:09] A user needs to logon before italc sees it... [11:09] the server saw the laptop when it was on the internet nic eth1 now i am connected to eth0 [11:09] yep, i am chatting to u from the thin client :) [11:09] server is right next to me [11:10] italc is a little difficult to troubleshoot when it's not working out of the box, so to make it a little faster as I don't have too much time, can I help you with vnc instead? [11:11] ok [11:11] sudo apt-get install x11vnc [11:11] x11vnc -connect alkisg.dyndns.org [11:12] on server? [11:12] Whatever :) [11:12] (all apps are running on the server anyway so it doesn't make much difference) [11:16] downloaded x11vnc, how do u connect to u? [11:16] (01:11:21 μμ) alkisg: x11vnc -connect alkisg.dyndns.org [11:17] i get a screen saying select x11vnc port [11:18] Run the above command from a terminal [11:18] Applications > Accessories > gnome terminal, and type the following command: [11:18] x11vnc -connect alkisg.dyndns.org [11:19] done [11:20] r u in? [11:20] yup [11:23] test_: x11vnc has some keyboard problems, can you press "|" there? [11:27] do u want me to start italc [11:28] ok u did someting:) so what was wrong? [11:28] Nope, I didn't do anything [11:29] I was just checking and everything looked ok so I just ran italc [11:29] then :) some ghost [11:29] i ran italc from the applications system tools [11:30] I don't know, I didn't do anything, I just ran the same thing from the command line. [11:31] OK, back to my phd... :) [11:31] yeh, will restart and hopefully all will work. [11:31] will let u know [12:11] hi alkisg, its working now. no idea why it did not initially. thx for all the help Kidar. [12:12] Good to know :) [12:12] going to take a break now :)