The Summer of Linux

This summer was “The Summer of Linux”; we experimented with Linux for the desktop, Linux for the server, and Linux in clustering. We used the Ubuntu distro for the desktop and server. We actually used the Long Term Support (6.06) version for the desktop, the older version of Ubuntu. I learned that the newest isn’t always the best, as version 7.04 would not install on our hardware. I got a chance to ask my questions about LTSP, to a developer on the Edubuntu irc channel, and we were successful in creating a thin client environment. Of course clustering was a great project where we hit some dead ends, but we recovered before the summer ended, having a functional cluster. Although I had some experience with Ubuntu, using it on my computers, this was a very educational summer. We became the admins and got a chance to implement Linux in a test environment, emulating a school computer lab, where we had to make sure the end users would be able to use Linux without any discomfort. We had to cover everything, from managing user rights to making sure every program a school computer would have, would be included in our Linux machines. In addition, we gained some experience in networking; we received some managed and unmanaged switches, configured them, and had thin clients boot over our network.

Linux has become more user friendly over the years. Ubuntu, for instance, has the nice Gnome interface, a GUI. If this were to be implemented in a school, most end users would be able to adjust. Instead of having a list of programs at the bottom, we have everything at the top. Some applications may be different, the OpenOffice suite vs. Office. It may be slightly more difficult for the end user at home installing it on his/her computer, though, especially if you run into problems. However, if one is dedicated enough, solutions to problems are all over the internet, and you can also ask questions on the Ubuntu irc channel. Once you become used to how Ubuntu works, Synaptics for downloading applications, the Linux alternative software… etc, it becomes easier. If you have to do something beyond the basics, though, you may have to use the terminal. For instance, the Grub bootloader wasn’t booting to the correct partition once, so after determining the path looking at GPart and a little bit of guessing and checking, I accessed the Grub file though the terminal. Or, you may want to install something using the terminal. Personally, I think Linux, due to distros like Ubuntu, has become more appealing, because for basic needs, it can be used without much difficulty.

This was a great summer where I was able to test several environments in which Linux can be used. I am thankful to Mr. Birchall who let us have this experience, allowing us to experiment on our own as long as we documented. We were able to finish all our projects with success, and I was glad documenting our experiences has helped people with their own Linux adventures. Linux and distros like Ubuntu with a cost of nothing are very appealing. Although many people begin using Ubuntu because of the free CDs their friends give them, if some loose ends were tied up (like the bootloader attempting to boot from the wrong partition) and marketed more, we could see an even greater rise in Linux usage.

clusterKnoppix, A Clustering Success

It has been a while since I have posted, because we have been working on our final project, making a cluster out of few computers. As I said before, we were having difficulties getting OSCAR set up. At one point it seemed to have imaged the nodes correctly, however upon testing the cluster using OSCAR’s feature to do so, we found we had several errors. We were unable to fix them, and so we decided to move on for now and try different tools. From here we tried using Rocks Cluster Distribution. You can either download the DVD with the Operating System and all the packages, CDs, or pick and choose what software you wanted and burn them to individual CDs. We originally went with the DVD choice, however, during installation, it asked the source from which it would get the packages, and it wouldn’t recognize our DVD as a choice. We tried CDs, but it would keep restarting in the middle without doing anything. Both Rocks and OSCAR had extensive documentation which I appreciated, however, since we could not get them working, we looked for another solution. During my research, clusterKnoppix always showed up, however, since it was more of a LiveCD based solution, I kept it on hold. Although from what I read, it should be easy to get one going by using LiveCDs. So we burned two and popped them into two computers, and followed these instructions. However, we would keep getting errors setting it up. I went back and did some more research, and found these instructions, which were to just boot from the CDs and they would see each other as long as they were assigned ip addresses. I immediately tried again, and they worked without any problems. I tried out the simple load balancing script that was in the first set of instructions, and it all seemed to work. The next step was to make it a permanent solution by installing it to the hard drive. We followed these instructions (the 7th post, a long set of instructions). Instead of using QTparted to partition our hard drive, we used GPart from the Ubuntu LiveCd because QTparted would not see our hard drive. We did not implement a separate partition for the cd image and we did not copy the clusterKnoppix CD contents to the hard drive the way that was suggested. Once the hard drive install was complete, we followed the instructions up to where it said “3. new: create directory for export: OK” which we selected, and we left the CD in the drive, from which it copied files. However, it created a folder called “diskless” in the root folder. After we found our cluster didn’t work, we deleted the folder and made a new “diskless” in the same location, but we copied the files from the CD to this location. In addition, for the “Client Hardware” section of the how-to, we just left the defaults, and eventually at the end everything works. We skipped some instructions, and went to where it said “Your terminal will complain about /mfs not being set-up correctly when…” and followed these steps. In addition, we also edited a script from these instructions (4th post) which we chose to implement before completing the cluster set-up. Eventually, we restarted terminalopenmosixserver (you may have to select stop, and then start) and did a openmosix restart. We booted up the nodes and watched from openmosixview as they began to appear. Our cluster was a success! During the terminalopenmosixserver and openmosix restarts, and also when booting up the nodes, there may have been small errors or warnings, but we let them be unless our cluster did not work. clusterKnoppix is a great and easy way to cluster; you can have a temporary cluster just to see it work by using the LiveCDs, or have a more permanent hard drive install.

Back To Work

I had been taking a break from work, but now I’m back. There has still been no luck with OSCAR, so we are going to try some different hardware. Meanwhile, we completed two other smaller assignments. The first was writing a guide to use the Imation Pivot Flash Drives. In addition, we also had to finalize on some software we were going to put on a mini-cd that will go home with students. It already had the FirstClass email client, Firefox, and we agreed on adding AVG Anti-Virus, and Ad-Aware Anti-Spyware. I felt if we were adding Anti-Virus software, we should also at least include Anti-Spyware to fully protect the system. We move on from here!

OSCAR…not working quite yet

Yesterday, I used the start_over script in OSCAR to…start over. I did the log out and back in it said, and I proceeded to reinstall and reconfigure OSCAR. This time, though, I opted to use a mirror for the rpms it needed, and I then proceeded to build the client image. After a very long time, an error was reported, it told me to check a log file which is really a script. Meanwhile, the client computers don’t even boot past the bios with the hard drives in. Today, we will have to somehow format the hard drives and start over with OSCAR.

Getting OSCAR ready

Our next task is to set up a small cluster, a “supercomputer”. Right now, there are two software based solutions we are going to look at, both involving Linux. The first one which is supposed to be easier to set up, and very well documented, is OSCAR. I found the instructions to setting it up here. We decided on using Fedora 5 as our OS base, since it was fully supported, so we downloaded it and installed it on the Dell server. Once this was complete, I began setting up OSCAR. Once a lot of the tedious set up was over, I attempted to run the set up script like it said in the documentation. However, the name in the documentation was wrong as I soon discovered, I did find it, though. A few more errors popped up, however, I just looked at the log and made the necessary changes. Once this was complete, the gui based setup came up, and I proceeded to install the server package, and next was the image for the client nodes. Setting it up though, required some more legwork. I had originally set it up so the necessary rpms for the client nodes would be downloaded from a mirror. I thought this would be too slow, so I got the rpms off the cds for Fedora. However, I was getting errors that dependencies, other packages that packages need, were missing. Therefore, we tried a combination of both cds and mirror, and after a long wait, it said completed successfully. Next was the deployment of the images. After setting it so it would get the image off the server, I turned on three clients. The first one got errors, which I believe occurred because the first one has to be the server. The other two seemed to have installed. However, those two no longer can boot from the hard disk, in fact, they don’t boot past the HP screen unless the hard drive is removed. Brian removed the CMOS battery, and I put them back and tried the computers again this morning, however, to no avail. I was waiting to post some good news in our supercomputing ventures, but here is where we’re at.

Managed Switches

We decided today after testing the mini cds and the applications to figure out the managed switches. Mr. Birchall had given us an SMC EZ1024DT–an “EZ” unmanaged switch, an SMC Tigerswitch which was managed and we had an HP ProCurve 224M. For the Edubuntu server project, we decided to use the EZ switch and experiment with the managed switches a bit later. Today, we started with the HP switch since we could actually find documentation on HP’s site. We connected it directly to the server through a serial port, and fixed the ip address and the gateway, so we could also use the web interface–previously this was not working. Once we tested to see if everything was working, we configured the SMC Tigerswitch the same way by connecting it via serial. We are able to use all our switches now, and hopefully we may be able to play around with a more advanced switch later.

Applications to Send Home on Mini-CDs

Mr. Birchall wanted us to test some applications to send home, mainly the FirstClass client software so students can access school email. We would place these applications on a mini cd-r. Therefore, we also had to test the integrity of the mini cd-rs. For applications, we decided on adding Firefox and also Pidgin for Windows, and just Firefox for Macs. We like Firefox as an internet browser and we added Pidgin because it is an open source alternative to AOL Instant Messenger. We burned many mini cd-rs with the software and tried them in our different cd readers. We did some more testing by scratching them and exposing them to everyday wear and tear. We concluded the integrity of the discs were fine; we had no problem burning and reading the discs, and the mini cds couldn’t take any less abuse than regular cds.

Edubuntu 7.04 Server Edition…our server operating system edition of choice

    When we tested the desktop versions of Ubuntu, we decided upon Dapper (6.06.1) for its long term support, and the fact that Feisty (7.04) was not installing due to some bugs.  We settled on Ubuntu at the end because we felt Edubuntu was Ubuntu with some childlike icons. However, it was a different story with the server. We switched to Edubuntu when we began, because it had ltsp support built in–all I had to do was install it and a thin client booted up from the start. In addition, it was Ubuntu, which we already loved, and we just changed the theme and icons. However, ltsp in Edubuntu Dapper did not support local devices such as flash drives, and an ltsp developer highly recommended we go to Feisty for its better ltsp features. We did, and we have not had the problems we encountered when using the desktop editions.

Even while we were using the older version, we continued to test software and other settings to emulate a real environment. I used my old list of software and plugins, configured all of them and made sure they worked on the thin clients. A change I made was instead of using realplayer, I found that through synaptics I could get the Fluendo mp3 codec, so music and audio would work using Ubuntu’s default Rhythmbox music player. I had also scrapped Audacity due to the other plugins it was coming with. In addition, a small change I made was the stopping of the bluetooth service at startup. The only other software type changes I made were documented in my previous blog entries.

Regarding user permissions, Ubuntu is already good about limiting people. Even if a limited user knew the root or administrator password, they would not be able to install software or make changes through their own account. Of course they probably be able to login to our account if they knew that much…but they would never find out any of that. In addition, we edited the menus so it would be difficult to see anything important, using the Alacarte menu editor that comes with Ubuntu. One last thing we are going to check is if we can remove Bittorrent and other packages we don’t want that come with Ubuntu completely, although it says it is going to remove the entire desktop. From my research, it won’t be a problem, and if that is not a plausible method, Bittorrent has been disabled since we edited some settings in gconf-editor. In addition a great tool we should use if we deployed this in our environment was sabayon, which I documented earlier, that made configuring users extremely simple, along with our shell script.

Other than the testing to see if some programs that are “locked to ubuntu-desktop”  can be removed (once our backup finishes), we hope to have completely exhausted our research on Ubuntu server editions.

Login Problem With Sabayon-Fixed

We discovered this morning that we had problems logging in at the thin clients with our administrator accounts. I knew that not much had changed other than the fact we updated our computer and install sabayon to customize the user profiles. I was pretty sure the problem came from the new software, so I googled it and found out that it was indeed sabayon’s fault. Only users under the sabayon “group” would be able to log in. Meaning, unless they were added under the group manually, only the users under a sabayon profile like our student profile would be able to log in. The fix was easy-we selected the “add every user” option for student so it would be easier if we had to make hundreds of students/faculty. However, we also made a blank administrator profile, and added ourselves to that one, and still maintained our privileges.

Configuring Many Users In Edubuntu / Ubuntu

A big concern for us was that we would have to add hundreds of users in a real environment. We have a server with a few test users set up and thin clients which work, but we would have to set up hundreds of users with the same settings including the theme (a normal one, not the elementary school one), permissions, menus (so you cannot see administrative functions), and other settings edited in gconf-editor that for instance prevent locking of the screen. After googling for a long time and asking on the Edubuntu and Ubuntu irc channels, someone finally suggested I try Sabayon, which configures user profiles. It is a really great tool; you make a profile, I called ours student, and when you select edit you get a small window which simulates a real desktop. So whatever changes I made were saved and applied to any user I selected. After this was working, there was still the task of adding many users that we would be able to apply the student profile to. I knew that we needed a shell script, so I asked around again and I found the exact syntax. We would still need to enter the password for each person, but that could be done. The syntax goes something like this.

Getting Sound to Work On Flash Applets and Local Devices on Edubuntu Thin Clients

After installing the server, I checked to see if everything worked. I played some test sounds and music…all good. Local devices didn’t work at first. After consulting ogra again on the Edubuntu irc channel, I found I had to allow the use of fuse filesystems in my user account and all other user accounts, guide here. In addition, when I wanted to show this video to Brian during a break, we discovered there was no sound. After asking ogra today, I discovered I had to install another package to get that working, instructions here. It works now! All we have left is to get user accounts set up in an easy manner with the same privileges and settings.

Edubuntu Feisty Server

Edubuntu completed installation during lunch, and I have begun configuring it…setting up a root password, installing packages such as Automatix, and updating the computer. Currently I am setting up everything from my laptop which serves as a thin client. This is what I love about Edubuntu– I popped in the disc, configured it like I did before, and just network booted my laptop, and the other computers connected to the switch, and it just worked. Plus, Feisty comes with a thin client manager which was interesting to play around with.

Linux Server Updates

I spoke with an LTSP developer yesterday who suggested moving to Feisty. To get local devices working on thin clients, we would need to do some intense reprogramming. Therefore, we first tried getting Ubuntu 7.04 server working on the other HP server. We decided today that we should stick with the trusted and true Edubuntu, and use the 7.04 version of that since LTSP support is better and it works out of the box. It is installing right now, and I’ll keep posting more updates.

Localdev Nonexistent in Dapper

After some googling, I found I had to add a file, lts.conf in /opt/ltsp/i386/etc. I added SOUND=TRUE, and LOCALDEV=TRUE. This was to enable sound on the thin clients, and the localdev to enable the use of flash drives and cds. However, the flash drives didn’t work, so I jumped back on the Edubuntu IRC channel. I found out that both sound and local devices are better in the newer versions of Ubuntu. In addition, LOCALDEV would not work with Dapper. Sound works, but it cannot be controlled through the volume control at the top.

Disable Hibernation in Ubuntu / Edubuntu

I just mentioned one of the big problems we discovered was that hibernating the client would cause the server to hibernate or sleep. To discover how to disable hibernation, I thought the quickest way would be to jump on the the freenode channel of Edubuntu, irc://freenode/edubuntu, then the much more active Ubuntu one, irc://freenode/edubuntu. On the Edubuntu one, I discovered that I had to change a hibernate setting in gnome-power-manager. The Ubuntu one helped me locate it; I had to enter gconf-editor in the terminal, find gnome-power-manager, and then uncheck can_hibernate. One problem solved thanks to the support from the community!

Potential Problems and Stuff to Still Work On

As mentioned in my last post, the thin clients and server work very well. In fact, I am writing this post from my laptop which is functioning as a thin client and also allows me to do administrative stuff without actually being at the server’s keyboard and monitor. However, Brian and I discussed some stuff we have to work on during lunch. One major thing we found accidentally was that selecting hibernate from a thin client actually hibernated the server……very bad. The other which should be a simple line of code in a config file is the use of cds and flash drives at the clients.  Some things we still have to work on is perfecting user accounts and doing performance tests making sure things work when multiple applications are being used at multiple stations.

DHCP and Internet with an Edubuntu LTSP Server

We received a network switch to allow us to have an ltsp server and thin clients, which worked fine. However, we were told to keep the switch off the network. We need the internet to update the server and so we added another NIC (network interface card) to the server, and changed the configuration so the new NIC was set to DHCP, and the old one maintained the static ip and was the DHCP server for the thin clients. However, this did not allow us to access the internet. In addition, every time we restarted, the new NIC would change between eth1 and eth2 in the network manager. I edited the interface file (sudo gedit /etc/network/interfaces) through the terminal, and commented out every mention of eth2. This did not alleviate the problem, therefore, I turned to a guide I had read before, here. I just had to make one modification, instead of /etc/default/dhcp, which did not exist, I edited /etc/default/dhcp3-server like the guide said, making eth0 the default for serving DHCP requests. After this, the internet works fine and the thin clients work as well. Even better, the thin clients receive internet, and we manage to separate the switch from the network.

Thin Clients With Edubuntu

When we received our first server, we planned on creating an ltsp server with Ubuntu, and have 4-5 thin clients. We followed instructions that were on the internet, but we could not get it working on the first try. The second server came, and we had a chance to split up and see if we could get something to work. I did some more research and found Edubuntu came built-in with ltsp–all I had to do was install it and it would already be set up as a server. I set it up using these instructions. As soon as it finished installing, I decided to see if it worked without doing anything else. Using a network switch, I connected a computer without a hard drive but built-in network booting support, and my new server. I turned on the new thin client, and…it worked perfectly. I moved all the computers Mr.Birchall gave us to the other side of the lab, Rudder North. I was able to set up four thin clients and they are all on the switch, but not the internet, and they are all working perfectly it seems. My goal for tomorrow is to test to see if there are any problems, and then work on setting up users and all the packages we need. When looking at desktop Ubuntu flavors, I had dismissed Edubuntu because it was Ubuntu, just with childlike icons. However, I was impressed by its ease of use in setting up an ltsp server and thin clients, and the icons aren’t that bad. So I will also work on the icons, and see if I can get the more generic Ubuntu feel.     

Imation Pivot Flash Drive

Mr. Birchall came in yesterday and handed us a 1GB Imation Pivot flash drive to test. I liked the outside of the flash drive because the USB portion folds into the flash drive, and it has a nice rubber and texture feel. I also happen to have a Lexar Lightning which is a very shiny piece of metal, and I prefer using a flash drive like this one. It has the standard light telling you data is being written, and also a write protection switch. The switch is very small and somewhat more difficult to reach, making it harder to accidentally set it off. However, the greatest feature is the built-in 256 bit protection. It is very easy to set up, and fairly easy to use. It uses hidden wrapper files to encrypt and hide your data. Therefore, even if you just delete the application, the files would still be there (you would need to format to get rid of everything). In addition, if you delete an encrypted file, you have to tell the program to also reclaim the space that was used for the wrapper. Which leads in to its versatility; unlike the old Kingston DataTraveler Elite we have been using, you do not have to set up a dedicated partition. You use just much as you need. In addition, it is faster to access than the Kingston, where the logon and logout could take a while. The flash drive is dependable, the outside is durable and I tested the integrity by unsafely removing it, even while it was writing files, many times. Windows Vista recognizes that it was unsafely removed after I reinsert the drive, however, it finds no errors. One thing that the Kingston has on the Imation is speed, as published below using SiSoft Sandra XI. However, transferring Word documents is instantaneous in both, and large music files that are 30MB doesn’t take that much longer with the Imation. You may notice an increase when transferring a 900MB file, but a student would not really need to do that often, and even so, it will take a while with both drives. One other IT issue, using non-admin with the Kingston, is not present with the Imation. I like the Imation Pivot, even more than the Kingston, and can highly recommend this flash drive. Go to the jump for benchmarks and screenshots with explanations.

Printing Issues

Since laptops are not connected to the domain, printing wirelessly can be an issue. Both Brian and I are able to print using a method that could be considered complicated by some end users. Therefore, we have been researching some solutions. We tried software resolutions first. However, we cannot have a new server dedicated for printers and other solutions would lead back to doing what we do. Therefore, we have decided to find hardware solutions, namely a print server, maybe a wireless one. We are still researching, so I will write some more later.

Web 2.0 Office Alternatives

Another assignment I received from Mr. Birchall was to compile a list of Web 2.0 Office alternatives- Office like services available on the internet. I had made a list last year on my now defunct blog, however, things have changed and Google has made some acquisitions. I did some research on Techcrunch, found the major players to be pretty much the same as last year, and I played around with their services. I had tested gOffice last year, however it now costs $.99 a month, so I had to skip it. This is what I got:

Google Docs and Spreadsheets (soon to arrive Presentations)- To be able to access Google Docs, you have to have either a Gmail account, which no longer require invitations (www.gmail.com) or set up your current email address as a Google account when you go to Google Docs. Once you login, you can make a new document or spreadsheet. A PowerPoint-like slide show creator will be released this summer. The interface isn’t the same as Microsoft Office, but it is fairly easy to figure out. Before writing a document or creating a spreadsheet, you should spend a minute going over what the buttons do so you know how to change the font, or enter a formula in a cell. Another great thing is that you can save in any major format, including .doc (Word) and even the OpenOffice format. In addition, you can share a file between people by entering their email address, and have people editing and making changes to a document at the same time. You can save your documents on the Google servers, and you can also download them to your own computer. If used extensively, it serves as a backup in case your own hard drive fails. Your documents would still be available from any computer with an internet connection, which makes this and the other services great. There are limits to the file size and amount of files, though, here.

Thinkfree- Upon creating an account, you have access to a 1GB webtop, where you can store documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. When you want to create or edit a document, you have a choice of quick or power edit. Quick edit is very basic, but intuitive. Power edit takes some time to load the first time, but the java virtual machine will cache the application so it loads quickly the next time. There is no learning curve for power edit as long as the person has used Microsoft Office. The interface is exactly that of Office 2003. In addition, you can save as .doc and the other basic ones such as .rtf, .pdf, but also the new Office 2007 .docx. Although I tested the free online version, they have versions for servers and software so you can have Thinkfree on your desktop. However, with the desktop, you can run it in Windows, Mac, and also Linux.

Zoho- You choose what you want, Writer, Sheet, or Show when you access the site. When you register, your profile is good for all the services, though. Writer and Sheet are almost as intuitive as their Thinkfree counterparts. Show has a bit of a different interface, but it’s easy to figure out. One cool feature they offer is that you can download the plugin for Office so you can edit your documents online and offline. For some reason, I could not find the file size limits or how much space is allotted. So, I called the toll-free number I saw. I spoke with someone who said he was not part of the Zoho Office suite project, so he transferred me to someone who said the same thing. However, he gave me the number of someone named Ian. I called and asked him the file size limit, which he said there was none, and he said there was a 1GB total limit, although it was not enforced. He also said a paid service for a greater amount was in the works. I just looked him up, and realized he was Ian Wenig, the Director of Business Development.

All of the above services work well, and do pretty much the same thing. However, I felt Zoho and Thinkfree had an interface more similar to Microsoft Office (other than the Thinkfree quick edit option, and Zoho show). In addition, I liked that Zoho had integration with Office, which most people already have. However, Google will be releasing their presentation service, so I will be reviewing that when it comes out.

Ubuntu “Model” Machine

To show that everything on our Windows school computers has a Linux equivalent, I had compiled a list, here. Next, I began configuring a machine to use as a model with all the software. However, when I installed Audacity through Automatix, I realized it was also installing packages such as LAME, and others such as Quicktime encoders. There were too many obscure ones to delete individually, and removing Audacity would not get rid of them. Therefore, I reinstalled Ubuntu and the other packages with the exception of using RealPlayer instead of Rhythmbox, although Rhythmbox is still present- it’s just not the default. So I finished setting up a model machine with all the software. Now, we are playing around with user privileges some more, although it may be a bit different if we set up clients and a server.

RealPlayer with Ubuntu

I wanted to make sure there were no issues with using an mp3 codec. I looked up what Thompson, the owner of the mp3 patent had to say, and it seemed that they did not charge royalties unless there was some sort of money involved. The link to that, here. However, I also read LAME (an mp3 codec) was distributed as source code so it was legal, but then you would have to compile it. However, Thompson also said that a free client would be fine, and of course that would include the codec. So, I have been researching this for days now, and I asked Brian to help. While we were searching, Brian found a discussion on a college forum, here. It suggested something I had not thought of, RealPlayer. I found it in Synaptics, and it was already installed. I realized this was a computer on which I had installed multimedia codecs through Automatix. Therefore, I went on a computer without Automatix, and did not find it. I installed Automatix, and it updated the repository. I now found I could install RealPlayer, and that only, from Synaptics Package Manager. I made it the default music player, and it opens mp3 and works fine. This avoids any potential issues. I did not use it, but the bin install is at the RealPlayer site, http://www.real.com/linux/. Here is the Automatix2 install site again,

Dell Poweredge 500sc

Mr. Birchall came in yesterday with a Dell Poweredge 500sc server with a faulty motherboard. It was our job to see if a third party motherboard such as an Asus would work.  We took apart the computer and found it was a socket 370 mobo, an older standard. However, we also discovered that Dell uses a proprietary ribbon front panel connector, however, we were in luck. I found a chart of the pins here. Once we found that it was possible, we searched for 370 motherboards on Newegg first, and we came up with these  DFI ones. We also found an abit one on a site called Global computer, here. In addition, I found what seemed like the actual motherboard here, although the price is a bit steep at $595. So, we found it was possible to do a mobo transplant, but only a few socket 370 motherboards are still for sale, and the front panel pins would require some modifications.

Possible Ubuntu Server Specifications

Brian and I have been researching possible Ubuntu server specifications. We found a few interesting links, http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/articles/linux_terminal_server?page=0%2C0, http://wiki.ltsp.org/twiki/bin/view/Ltsp/ServerSizing. Using these links we determine for 10 clients we would need at least a 1GHz processor. One modern processor (like a Pentium 4) would work fine, or perhaps two Pentium 3s to compensate for their lower bus speed. 1GB of RAM would be sufficent, but slightly more would be safer. For hard drive space, we allocate 20GB which will be more than enough for the operating system and packages, 5GB as swap, and if we would give 500 users 50MB, that would be another 25GB. Therefore, 50GB should be enough. We could be on the safe side and also implement a RAID array.