On Tue, May 13, 2003 at 06:58:23PM +0100, Ben Francis wrote:
I did also wonder if we should start by dual booting them so that the windows facilities are still there and while we don't have it working completely the computers could still be used for everything they would usually be used for.
I would seriously reccomend that you do not dual boot them, it really puts people off using the system they are less familiar with and in this case we want people to use linux instead of windows. Anyhow are all of the machines you are getting to do this pretty much the same spec? You could always look at something like using FAI http://www.informatik.uni-koeln.de/fai because you will need the facility to reinstall machines quickly for when people b****er them up (which they will as its a student lab (and how are people supposed to learn if they can't break things ;))) you could also look at perhaps using a terminal server setup although that would probably suit something with a more centralised and formal admin. Of course the advantage of going the terminal server route means that you can convert most machines to run linux with just a boot floppy, cd or net boot in a few minutes so you are not tied to only having your lab.
Getting the initial debian installs 'nice' can be a bit of hardwork but if you have machines spare to practise on then you will get used to it quite quickly :) I have not used FAI recently (i tried it back in 2000 and it was a little bit ropey back then) but it should have come on lots by now. The main reason I would go for fat clients instead of a terminal server setup is that in the event of something breaking (or you breaking it) you only tend to mess up a couple of machines instead of all of them.
I would also be happy to help you out with some of this. I have experience in setting up Debian desktops and running networks with linux at the core and integrating with windows etc. etc. the main problem that I will have is that I am living in Cambridge so I could perhaps help with the planning what you want to do and give up some time on weekends for this. I could also be available for technical support on the phone during the week if you really needed it (this is when the mailing lists come in handy :))
Anyhow everything you have proposed you want to do with the setup so far sounds good, no stupidly outrageous ideas etc. With some good planning you should be able to get a good setup quite quickly and extend this to do everything you want with minimal effort afterwards. What I would suggest is getting a plan for how it all works first writing it down and then sticking to the plan (or revising it if necessary) as if you throw it all together you will probably have some tricky technical issues a bit later on.
Adam