Current school lab setup: 1 RedHat 9 server running Samba emulating an NT domain 35 Windows 98 (Yuck!) workstations running All The Right Type (typing tutor) MSOffice Apps (XP version) Microsoft Visual Basic (Grade 11 programming) Java Programming (Grade 12) various and sundry educational games etc Interenet High Speed Access Am switching to all Linux network this summer I need to be able to continue teaching programming, preferably still Java and a flavour of Visual Basic. I need to be able to continue teaching an MSOffice - like application (OpenOffice) I need to allow for typing practice I need to give the kids access to games / internet etc. I believe Suse will allow me to do all that with the exception of a Visual Basic flavour of programming. (if someone can help me out there it would be appreciated, even if it is just pointing me in the right direction) Some key features I need to implement. 1 Authentication from the server (NIS? maybe) How to doc would be nice 2 Home directories served up from the server, not each workstation. This is a biggie. With over 500 kids and the very real problem of them having to share the same 35 workstations, I do not want to have to have their files anywhere but on the server. With Samba and windows workstations this was easy. Authenticate and map the "homes" directories to a drive they could access on their workstations. Of course this "homes" directory in Samba was pointing to the equivelent Unix user's home directory on the server If I can get answers to all the above I will die a happy man and be able to break away from the dependancy on the evil Microsoft Empire, with all its glaring security holes! Thank you in advance for all your opinions and tips -- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 7.0.230 / Virus Database: 262.8.3 - Release Date: 4/15/2004
On Saturday 17 April 2004 17:37, Liam Marshall wrote:
Current school lab setup: 1 RedHat 9 server running Samba emulating an NT domain
35 Windows 98 (Yuck!) workstations running All The Right Type (typing tutor) MSOffice Apps (XP version) Microsoft Visual Basic (Grade 11 programming) Java Programming (Grade 12) various and sundry educational games etc Interenet High Speed Access
Am switching to all Linux network this summer
I need to be able to continue teaching programming, preferably still Java and a flavour of Visual Basic.
I need to be able to continue teaching an MSOffice - like application (OpenOffice)
I need to allow for typing practice
I need to give the kids access to games / internet etc.
I believe Suse will allow me to do all that with the exception of a Visual Basic flavour of programming. (if someone can help me out there it would be appreciated, even if it is just pointing me in the right direction)
Some key features I need to implement.
http://linuxshop.ru/linuxbegin/win-lin-soft-en/table.shtml Is a good place to start for ideas on Linux equivalents to Windows stuff. The rest I'll leave to others. Keep us posted on your progress, Stan
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On Saturday 17 April 2004 18:37, Liam Marshall wrote: [...]
Some key features I need to implement.
1 Authentication from the server (NIS? maybe) How to doc would be nice
Yast, SUSE's all in one configuration tool, makes setting up a NIS server and clients really easy. Just try it.
2 Home directories served up from the server, not each workstation. This is a biggie. With over 500 kids and the very real problem of them having to share the same 35 workstations, I do not want to have to have their files anywhere but on the server. With Samba and windows workstations this was easy. Authenticate and map the "homes" directories to a drive they could access on their workstations. Of course this "homes" directory in Samba was pointing to the equivelent Unix user's home directory on the server
I think you'd do this through NFS; there may be some performance concerns, but since I've never had to deal with networks bigger than 4 boxes and with 2 users (my wife and I), I don't have any better ideas. I'd serve all home dirs from one server (which seems to be what you've been doing with samba, so I guess the load with NFS should be comparable, but I'm really just guessing). Again, yast makes it very, very simple to set up NFS servers and clients. If you open yast, go to the network services section, you'll see that the setup process is pretty much self explanatory. Good luck! -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.2 (GNU/Linux) iQIVAwUBQIHsm96AspoXaofZAQIxAg//R8dJs5uNNtO4EduqvjpE5Th4OAbOzoH+ JegY5OMtV+Vy5bziH9prmzJTIPB5pDvritboa+o6k9cmarBlVhGOn+U7yVbGwJmb 07nxM5yYL2Ld69xE0b7dWlN1fnKhFvAvxcVql8FCwkFdT0qLsKpJeEdB5feT0CAb 9aqJ1QYvApu5tV75yhQwq0qTkQ9UlViC3NB35BRCtDF4SK0gc6CqRKFhdafrOgjH 4T6lDPlBEE1b6FUCNRDD3y9fJys7O2Osu9zeQn0Ty7wcnhBF0tALCiXWLCPNQSGS +WmjU0uVqFcy7ANEmjdE5gkpNaSYNNSpyENjHUrAiA9qb0YvPbMJyjxcWKXoVxvb 1pQCDtAm2iCN+bbWRq5bq2i/pGT9PF0iRpYFT56FOu1x33Q9qhC9Uebg0B20jkFs /TECDl3WLGI/FAVYYqcQpZQdJiYQYgQ+ARH3bJkhQhrZrXxhn4lu1qg9Hv5wwAqB q6qZzmyY5+YrOHAJDG+1N1wYYRwp1eH4RtN0rMZXcbCJUqvlvIQ/4N17STEX3jel 2mTpwcHtf/6F1wLezWDwNObo3c/rYI7ofrza2lDj5jjyEZKLnWzjadWEMikw7zNG /lov80UoS4qCFiuVcjyuyYdo1xS8mpBeG79LsCQBuVL4QLRuAgVuMMAT2vfvKqqj icCULeGhIU0= =wsJQ -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
On Sun, 2004-04-18 at 00:37, Liam Marshall wrote:
Current school lab setup: 1 RedHat 9 server running Samba emulating an NT domain
35 Windows 98 (Yuck!) workstations running All The Right Type (typing tutor) MSOffice Apps (XP version) Microsoft Visual Basic (Grade 11 programming) Java Programming (Grade 12) various and sundry educational games etc Interenet High Speed Access
Am switching to all Linux network this summer
Good for you...
I need to be able to continue teaching programming, preferably still Java and a flavour of Visual Basic.
Java no problem, But... VB is not going to be possible... You'll have to switch to another language... You could start a thread here, to discuss which languages would be best for begginer programmers.
I need to be able to continue teaching an MSOffice - like application (OpenOffice)
Open Office will all the common things required of an Office Suite better and quicker than M$ Office Suite will. You will have compatibility problems with formula editor and other ultra advanced functions I've personally never seen any body use...
I need to allow for typing practice
You probably need to start a thread for this also...
I need to give the kids access to games / internet etc.
There are games available for Linux. But you seemed to have something specific on your mind. As to internet, you will be alot better off with linux on the workstation than windows as Linux does not catch viruses. This is because the viruses are all windows variants at the moment.
I believe Suse will allow me to do all that with the exception of a Visual Basic flavour of programming. (if someone can help me out there it would be appreciated, even if it is just pointing me in the right direction)
Some key features I need to implement.
1 Authentication from the server (NIS? maybe) How to doc would be nice
2 Home directories served up from the server, not each workstation. This is a biggie. With over 500 kids and the very real problem of them having to share the same 35 workstations, I do not want to have to have their files anywhere but on the server. With Samba and windows workstations this was easy. Authenticate and map the "homes" directories to a drive they could access on their workstations. Of course this "homes" directory in Samba was pointing to the equivelent Unix user's home directory on the server
I would use NIS Yellow pages and NFS. Basically, it lets you share home directories, and username/password info from the server, is easy to setup in SuSE, and just what you need. I'm not sure what your network requirements will be for 35 pc's running NIS/NFS, but I don't believe they will be any more that the current setup.
If I can get answers to all the above I will die a happy man and be able to break away from the dependancy on the evil Microsoft Empire, with all its glaring security holes!
Thank you in advance for all your opinions and tips
I didn't see any mention of the needs of the teachers, and school administration needs.... Did you forget these? At any rate, I wish you luck, and want to thank you for having the guts to go out on limb and do what is right, instead of not rocking the boat and using microsoft! Jerry Westrick
Liam Marshall wrote:
I need to be able to continue teaching programming, preferably still Java and a flavour of Visual Basic.
Java won't be a problem. There are some BASIC's in Linux, including StarBasic in the openoffice suite, but would Python, for example, fit the needs of your curriculum? It is easy, pedagogically a lot better than BASIC of any kind and supports GUIs and object orientation. It also supports functional programming.
I need to be able to continue teaching an MSOffice - like application (OpenOffice)
OpenOffice should be fine unless you want to teach VBA or use the regression analysis plugin for Excel. Check with Sun. They now let you install as many copies of StarOffice 7 as you like if you are an educational institution. Sun at least has a brand behind it to convince skepics.
I need to allow for typing practice
Ktouch is basic but fine. -- JDL
On Saturday 17 Apr 2004 23:37 pm, Liam Marshall wrote:
1 Authentication from the server (NIS? maybe) How to doc would be nice
NIS will work out-of-the-box and is very reliable IME. The NIS HOWTO is included in the installation media.
2 Home directories served up from the server, not each workstation. This is a biggie. With over 500 kids and the very real problem of them having to share the same 35 workstations, I do not want to have to have their files anywhere but on the server. With Samba and windows workstations this was easy. Authenticate and map the "homes" directories to a drive they could access on their workstations. Of course this "homes" directory in Samba was pointing to the equivelent Unix user's home directory on the server
This is very doable with NFS, but for 500 users I would suggest breaking the exported home directories down into groups, probably cy class would be most convenient. So on the server you would have: /home/class1/user1 /home/class1/user2 : /home/classn/user1 : etc. Then export the /home/classx directories. I would also consider using autofs4 to automatically mount the relevant class directory on the clients. HTH Dylan -- "I see your Schwartz is as big as mine" -Dark Helmet
Liam Marshall wrote:
Am switching to all Linux network this summer another nick in the Gates armor?
I need to be able to continue teaching programming, preferably still Java and a flavour of Visual Basic. Perhaps Borland's Kylix?
to break away from the dependancy on the evil Microsoft Empire, with all its glaring security holes! I wish you the best. Every bit helpa
Damon Register
participants (7)
-
Adalberto Castelo -
Damon Register -
Dylan -
Jerome R. Westrick -
John Lamb -
Liam Marshall -
S.R.Glasoe