[WEB4LIB] Linux Terminal Server Project

[Richard L. Goerwitz III]

Peter Verhagen wrote:
> 
> Does anyone want to share their thoughts/experiences about using
> something like "Linux Terminal Server Project" as a solution for
> providing Internet access for patrons?

This isn't a direct answer to your question, but as long ago as
1995 the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute archives were
using simple X Terminals booting off cheap Sun workstations for
this purpose.  They have a library there, and an impressive mu-
seum.  They needed a way to stick a few kiosks in, and not have
to bother maintaining them all separately (or together, for that
matter; they required no maintenance at all).

X Terminals, for those that don't know, are graphically based ter-
minals.  The manufacturers build them so the displays, keyboards,
mice are really nice.  But the CPU can be fairly lightweight, and
no disks are needed, as the units load their operating systems
right off the network from the server.  The operating systems are
small, and have enough intelligence to let you run and display
programs off a central server.

In this sort of scenario, you can put your administrative effort
into one central server (so you don't have to tweak each work-
station - which don't have CDs, hard drives, or even floppies).
Everything runs off the server.

What's neat about the Linux Terminal Server Project is that it
gives you a way to do something similar using relatively cheap
PC components that boot a Linux kernel off the net.

You could even use PCs whose hard drives have died.  Just pull
the drives, and boot LTRP from a floppy.

It sounds hopelessly cool to me.

Good luck with the project!

-- 

Richard Goerwitz                               richard at Goerwitz.COM
tel: 401 438 8978