[nmglug] Custom Boot Disk for School Lab

[Aaron Birenboim]

On 08/23/2011 07:15 PM, Jeffrey Miller wrote:
> This seems like the classic RTFM question but...  (-:

I think that the standard solution to such a problem would be
to boot those minis over the network.
Either enable a PXE boot option in the BIOS (or Mac version of a Bios),
or set up mini bootstrap disks as described below.

There are standard LINUX distros for running a lab from a single
server, with many thin clients.  PXE boot an image from the server,
AND have user accounts which store student profiles, retrievable
from any client in the lab.

If you are running wireless, there are mini wifi-PXE boot images.
These are actually mini LINUX distros that install drivers for the
WiFi, then download the PXE boot images (TFTP?) from the server
and then boot the "real" LINUX kernel.

Hopefully somebody is reading this list who is familiar with these
thin-client oriented distros.

              aaron