On 12/15/2013 03:17 PM, Larry Linder wrote:
> New project for next January.
> We are getting ready to expand our lab and plan to install a terminal with
> large displays at each bench.   The bench will support one or two projects
> and I hate the thought of setting up 6 new SL 6.4's so there is access to
> schematics, parts lists, layouts, and drawings.   In the past we have used
> NFS to do this.   I have thought about setting up a VMware server and running
> SL 5.10 and Windows under it.  The problem is how to tie it all to one or two
> servers in the shop without this turning into a big dog performance wise.
> Since we plan to use the same hardware we need to mod all SL6.4 so that
> Ethernet works correctly.  SL5.10 works out of the box.  We really like the
> Gigabyte boards and AMD quad cores. We quit buying other brands because of
> bad brown capacitors that bulge and start leaking before the board /
> processor fails.   When you start replacing 50 or so boards it is a real
> problem.
>
> Wile we are at it we need to set up other boxes for shop,  receiving and
> shipping with printers.  I hate to say this we are still running a "sneaker
> net".
>
> We are basically an electronic engineering company that is looking more like a
> factory.

Sounds like the perfect use for LTSP:

https://fedorahosted.org/k12linux/

Basically a couple of packages to install on a normal SL system plus a 
client image to install and you are good to go.  there may even be a 
live CD/USB if you want to try it out that way.

The terminals (clients) can be very lightweight and are typically 
diskless (boot off the network with PXE).  I mostly use Atom all-in-one 
systems.  Even the server doesn't have to be too big if you aren't doing 
anything particularly CPU or RAM intensive.

It's a bit of configuring and messing around to get it all the way you 
want it up front but having only one "box" to maintain is a sysadmin 
dream and is highly worth the effort in my experience.

Jeff