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Jun. 9, 2009

A new Linux deployment in a Santa Rosa, Calif., elementary school district is maturing nicely, letting teachers and students stand away from their previous dependence on Microsoft's Windows OS while they test drive open source applications as well. So far, the transition has been smooth.

Santa Rosa's school administrators decided to switch to LTSP (Linux Terminal Server Project) following a pilot program at a Boys and Girls Club in Petaluma, CA.

The Linux implementation at the kids’ clubhouse is still up and running for a grand total of nine managed LTSP networks, all in Sonoma County. LNS (Logical Networking Solutions) administers the whole configuration from its offices in Santa Rosa, using Virtual Network Computing (VNC) over Secure Shell for Workstations (SSH) tunnels.

The transition in Santa Rosa from Windows NT 4 to Ubuntu Linux Terminal Server Project might not get an A+ mark based strictly on smoothness, suggested Jordan Erickson, who’s been overseeing the seven LTSP school networks ever since their launch about three years ago through his company, Silicon Valley-based LNS.

However, the Linux deployment is ranking highly with the seven schools involved, because it saves them money on Microsoft licenses, spares them from Windows upgrades, prevents computer viruses, and spurs greater collaboration, Erickson said.

Although some of the schools already had older Compaq PC workstations at the outset, other classrooms were just heading into computerization with the use of Neoware E100 or HP T5530 thin clients.

Each of the 8 remote sites also has its own server, which serves up LTSP to the Koolu thin-client systems accessed by the kids for classroom lessons, after-school homework, Internet research, and even computer games.

Overall, Linux-enabled applications used by the schools have revolved around the OpenOffice suite, Firefox browser and Typing Tutor, a commercially developed program which teaches kids to type. Some of the schools are also running Virtual Machine (VM) Terminal Services for legacy Windows-based classroom learning applications, Erickson said.

Meanwhile, in its own offices, LNS has been running a custom virtual machine--hosted on the same LTSP server--along with a Windows-driven QuickBooks accounting system and Linux applications that include OpenOffice.org; Firefox; Thunderbird, for e-mail; Sunbird, for shared calendaring; Dia, for network diagramming, and a number of others.

Shell scripts are utilized over the SSH tunnels to automate tasks such as synchronizing the directories on each server from a master.

Erickson added "we’ve experienced a few hiccups with the VM. We’ve also had some problems around OpenOffice and Firefox... Firefox has well known issues with LTSP, anyway," he added.

But Erickson also noted that LNS has been able to work out a lot of the glitches by communicating with other Linux community members through the Pidgin and XChat software applications.

Source: Santa Rosa Municipal School District.

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