> > Some questions must be asked: > > 1. could both ltsp and lessdisk still fit on one single install cd? > > Yes. The new LTSP is ~50k on the CD, pluss some kernel modifications > to get unionfs included. the current release of lessdisks, 0.6.2d, takes about half a MB including sources. debian-edu probably wouldn't need all the packages. it can use standard debian kernels with initrd-netboot-tools. can unionfs be included as a module, or is it a more involved kernel patch? there is support for using translucency fs in lessdisks, and i could probably integrate unionfs support if that was desired- i just don't have much experience with it. > > How much "data pollution" can the backbone bear with lessdisks? Is > > there a way to introduce secure protocolls (as with nx)? > > Both lessdisks and the new LTSP encrypt the communication between the > clients and the server using ssh, if I am not mistaken. i think we are mixing up technologies here. the core of lessdisks and LTSP are technologies to use a read-only root filesystem over unencrypted NFS (and possibly TFTP, also). though it might be possible to use secure NFS and/or TFTP: http://www.helsinki.fi/~ntyni/tlsboot/ http://www.edu.helsinki.fi/atk/ltsp_kiosk/nfs_over_ssl.html other network filesystems such as AFS or GFS might also be encrypted root filesystem options as well, but i have not heard of any sucesses using them that way. both are able to make use of other technologies to encrypt the connection between terminal(client) and the application server. lessdisks can be configured to do this with "sdm" (available in debian sarge), and it seems that the new ltsp code from ubuntu includes something similar (and possible more capable) written in python called "ldm". both are also able to function as the more classic "X terminal" (a.k.a. "thin client") running applications from a server. as well as "Diskless Workstations" (a.k.a. "half-thick clients") which only get the root filesystem from a server, but run all applications locally. with lessdisks, some folks have set up an environment where the "X terminal" and "Diskless Workstations" share the same root filesystem, and based on the hardware capabilities of the booted terminal operate as "X terminal" or "Diskless Workstation". in theory, LTSP could probably do this as well. the LTSP 3.x and 4.x had large packages which provided the root filesystem for the terminals, whereas lessdisks and the future of LTSP build the root filesystems by taking debian/ubuntu/other packages to create the root filesystem. i am obviously more familiar with the experiences of lessdisks users in all of these capacities. :) the new LTSP chroot building code is quite young- perhaps less than two months old. i think there is possibility to share some of the concepts and code from lessdisks which has been in production for 4-5 years, but it may take some time to integrate the two, and requires cooperation by all parties. but this is free software, eh? :) live well, vagrant
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