Using ubunto workstations in a server 03/08 environment

[sted]

as i have time over the 6 week holidays im intending to look into reusing old workstations that wont run xp at a decent speed as ubuntu boxes. The idea being hopefully i can get them to log onto the domain as themselves and use them for things like open office and web surfing (thats the plan for now depending on how it goes i may extend it but we will see) to extend the life of schools pcs where money is an issue.

Anybody done this (i presume someone has) and can give me links to good sites on this /advice so i can avoid any silly pitfalls

most of my schools now use \\server\users%\year\%username% home dirs rather than \\server\name$ shares which i believe may not help things along though in most cases the latter still exist

[Batman]

We had a look at this and we didn't really find that Ubuntu ran any better than XP on the old machines we were using. We thought about using Xubuntu but in the end the powers that be decided on new machines anyway.

So my advice would be, before you try to join any to the domain or any tricky configuration, just have a go at installing and using Ubuntu on one of them. You may find it's no better and therefore not worth the hassle.

[sted]

sounds like a plan cant sue the actual machines as the school(s) will be closed but im sure we have a load of old pcs at the office somewhere to play with

[TwoZeroAlpha]

You'll need to use something like "Likewise open" to take the (well most of the) hassle out of joining to the domain.

Likewise Open Source Software that Authenticates Linux, Unix, and Mac systems with Microsoft Active Directory

[Geoff]

This is perfectly doable with Samba and PAM.

[cookie_monster]

Same as Batman i'd actually try running them with Ubuntu first, we found that a recent Ubuntu dist doesn't run any faster than XP.

[ahuxham]

Same as Batman i'd actually try running them with Ubuntu first, we found that a recent Ubuntu dist doesn't run any faster than XP.

That with all daemons, services running as default? Half the majority of daemons/services don't need to be installed, added the fact there are other Window Managers with tiny footprints, Fluxbox, Blackbox, E16, E17 (enlightenment) and various other ones, Sugar for example.

Ubuntu base install, what's not needed stripped, all locked down, running a smaller footprint WM will have better performance over XP on most days

[cookie_monster]

Half the majority of daemons/services don't need to be installed

That goes for XP as well


Yes I was sticking to defaults plus the default window manager.

[Batman]

That with all daemons, services running as default? Half the majority of daemons/services don't need to be installed, added the fact there are other Window Managers with tiny footprints, Fluxbox, Blackbox, E16, E17 (enlightenment) and various other ones, Sugar for example.

Ubuntu base install, what's not needed stripped, all locked down, running a smaller footprint WM will have better performance over XP on most days

You can't polish a turd!!

If a machine is too old it's too old... simple as that. Yeah sure, you can switch of unneeded services and that sort of thing but it's not going to mean that your applications suddenly use less resources.

[ahuxham]

You can't polish a turd!!

If a machine is too old it's too old... simple as that. Yeah sure, you can switch of unneeded services and that sort of thing but it's not going to mean that your applications suddenly use less resources.

Are you being pretentious again? Have you run any of the above in development environments, have you actually tried anything, or yet again, just adding your own crap to a post (As I've noticed you've been doing around the site)

A stripped OS, Ubuntu Core, E16, E17, Flux and the such use such a small memory print, it will in itself allow applications to tap into more freed memory. Linux is designed to run on anything, at any spec.

I've had Ubuntu running on PIII's and 256MB Ram and performing two-fold over Windows XP on the same machine.

You need to research more before blurting utter nonsense!

[cookie_monster]

There does come a point where there is no point nursing old junk in my opinion, i've been nursing a room of Celeron 600s for ages. You can use them for office but even with enough memory quite a few web sites that staff want to use kill the processor. After all the effort stripping down a linux install to get it to run ok it's still a rubbish machine. Reminds me of people driving around in Vauxhall Novas with big shiny exhausts on

[mattx]

How interesting, only today whilst waiting for a Ghost image to finish on our new lot of ICT PCs, I stuck Jaunty Jackalope [ excuse the spelling I have had quite a bit to drink this evening ] on an old ACER Veriton GT [ Pent 4, 1 gig Ram ] - it ran ok.....ish but I was rather surprised how it did struggle a tad on certain aspects. I then ran into a major problem with Firefox NOT playing any BBC Flash video content [ even though it had the plugin's installed etc ] - even youtube video clips it struggled on. The BBC stuff just loaded the screen with the twirly thing in the middle and then stayed like it. God knows what was causing that. [ And that was the latest ver 3.0.11 i think ]
I'll stick Xubuntu on it tomorrow to see if it performs any better.

As for old kit, - well I love old kit - turning them into FreeNAS boxes [ FreeBSD ] is something of an obession of mine....The old RM mini towers are excellent work horses for that.

Anyone got a cure for a spanish wine and 6 pint hangover 'cos I will certainly have one in the morning...

[cookie_monster]

Yeh I turned an old RM into a FreeNAS box....then it died

Anyone got a cure for a spanish wine and 6 pint hangover 'cos I will certainly have one in the morning...

Sausage sandwitch with brown sauce and not TOO much coffee

[mattx]

Yeh I turned an old RM into a FreeNAS box....then it died




Sausage sandwitch with brown sauce and not TOO much coffee

Well I managed to get in..... On my third cup of coffee already.....not feeling toooooooooo bad - at the moment. Just started dling Xubuntu for my sins - see how it performs on the old Acer 3600GTs.....

[mattx]

Xubuntu is great on the old Acer GTs - shame the sound won't work. In fact it won't work on any sound card I stick in it !! Even tried a USB Sound Blaster - sees it fine - no sound though.....
On the same PC, install Ubuntu & the sound works fine !!
Must be a special feature.....of Xubuntu.
The sound on board is a Realtek AC97 if anyone knows anything about it for Xubuntu....