Bug#414412: ITP: initramfs-tools-tcos -- TCOS, a debian thin client operating system
On Sun, Mar 11, 2007 at 07:00:26PM +0100, mariodebian wrote:
> El dom, 11-03-2007 a las 10:27 -0700, Matt Zimmerman escribió:
> > What is the difference relative to LTSP? Is it that it runs directly from
> > the initramfs where there is enough RAM?
> >
> > If so, wouldn't this be better added as a feature to LTSP rather than a new
> > thin client implementation? I thought about adding it at one point, but
> > didn't have a need for it yet.
> >
>
> LTSP 4.2 patch and compile kernel and packages specially for using in
> thin clients.
>
> LTSP 5.0 uses a chroot (Muekow ??) and install a debian/ubuntu with
> debotstrap.
Yes, I know; I wrote the initial implementation. It's not a complete
install, but a basic one which includes X.
> In LTSP 4.2 and LTSP 5.0, NFS server is required and nowadays with thin
> clients with more RAM it isn't necesary.
Indeed, this is why I think it would be interesting to have the capability
to bypass NFS in LTSP as well.
> I think that LTSP is a very big project and will be very difficult to
> make TCOS as LTSP feature. In other hand I have tried a lot of times to
> show my project to them but nobody ear my.
Perhaps if your project were submitted in the form of a patch to LTSP,
rather than an alternative implementation, it would be better received. It
sounds like it could be built as an incremental step on top of the existing
chroot build process.
As I mentioned, I realized this possibility while I was working on it, but
had no need to implement the feature at the time. It would be a fine
addition, though.
I'm CCing Oliver Grawert, who is actively working on the mainline branch of
LTSP and should be able to answer your questions about this.
> With TCOS I build a small initramfs (5 Mb) and usr-x.x.x.squashfs
> (10-15Mb) (where some of utils are: Xorg, etc...).
>
> With 38 Mb aprox of RAM thin client don't need swap, with 32 can use
> hard disk swap automatically.
>
> Requirement are higher that LTSP or PXES because thin clients are
> running normal Xorg 7.1 and normal kernel 2.6.18-486 (for example)
LTSP (5.x) uses standard X and kernels as well.
> We are using Pentium 350 with 64Mb with 24h/365d uptime without
> problems.
>
> TCOS don't modify any debian package, only copy binaries and dep libs
> (ldd based) into initramfs or external squashfs.
>
> Thin client while booting download usr.squashfs and don't need NFS.
>
> TCOS has more utils like a XMLRPC server to make a dialog between server
> and thin clients, a GUI Monitor to control all hosts and a GUI (similar
> to pxeconfig) to create images.
These tools sound interesting; I expect they could be used with LTSP as
well.
>
>
>
> All GUI utils use gettext and are translated in english and spanish.
>
> SVN repos:
> https://forja.rediris.es/svn/cls-tcos/trunk/
>
> Screenshots of GUI utils:
> http://soleup.eup.uva.es/mediawiki/index.php/TCOS-config/es
> http://soleup.eup.uva.es/mediawiki/index.php/TcosMonitor/Screenshots
> http://soleup.eup.uva.es/mediawiki/index.php/TcosVolumeManager
>
> Spanish Debian/ubuntu based distros (Guadalinex, Linex, Molinux..) are
> working to put TCOS in their repos to create terminal servers very easy.
>
> We are using in a production environment (Free access room of
> University) since October 2006, and we are installing in a lot of
> schools in our city.
>
> TCOS was presented last year to Google SOC and not was selected.
>
>
>
> Matt, thanks for your attention, and excuse my english.
>
> --
> http://soleup.eup.uva.es/mariodebian
--
- mdz
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