I need book learning for Ubuntu LTSP

February 3, 2011 10:04 AM

I have searched the web, the AskMe mind, and asked a couple of local LTSP experts about a good, printed resource that will take me step by step through setting up an Ubuntu server and eight to ten clients. I know where to find most if not all the install info online, which is where most experts have pointed me, but my mind works better if can can see it in a book. Suggestions?

After some positive experiences with the Ubuntu Linux distro and the Edubuntu add ons, I want to take the step of converting my neighborhood computing center computers to have an Edubuntu server and convert my existing 8 other aging Dell XP computers into Edubuntu clients.

The majority of my users are children and youth from 6 to 18. The adult clients would probably be better served in their job training pursuits by having "real" MS-Office, but my lab's newest version of that is 2003. Edubuntu just has so many more education and edutainment options built in that the children are actually queuing up to use the 2 boxes I've migrated to Ubuntu over the 6 that still run XP. All of the other programs from GIMP & Blender, to the prosaic OpenOffice lead me to believe that more & more, public access computing will be on the Linux platforms.

The LTSP information says that the intent is for any teacher to be able to set up a classroom server, and while I am by no means an expert or a geek--as much as I'd like to be--I am fairly computer adept (started on an IBM PC with the 8088 processor) and believe that I can get this set up & running.

What book(s) should I buy so that I can set this up and so that the next person can keep it running?

posted by beelzbubba to computers & internet (3 answers total)

Not a book - but maybe a better answer. I'm not sure where in MI you are, but somebody from the Ubuntu LoCo team for Michigan might be interested in helping you out.
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MichiganTeam

Or, look for a general Linux Users Group in your area. I know our LUG would jump all over the opportunity to help with something like this. Unfortunately, we are about 700+ miles from Michigan.
posted by COD at 10:13 AM on February 3, 2011

Thanks, COD. My first stop was to contact the w.u.c/MichiganTeam. The main contact by coincidence lives in the same city I do. He has responded with a couple of leads. I will also look for an Ann Arbor LUG. Looking for the LUG is how I found the Ubuntu group.
posted by beelzbubba at 8:52 AM on February 4, 2011

I got a form MeMail from mathowie,

....Since then, your question has received 1 answer from 1 member. How did the answer work for you? If you have any follow-up information or a resolution, please comment in the thread. Consider adding a 'resolved' tag to the thread if your problem was solved. This will let other members know your question was answered and will help others find any follow-up information you add.

The same week I asked this question, I memailed COD to let him know that my first steps before my AskMe were to contact the Ubuntu LoCo and the LUG. I heard back from the local Ubuntu wiz--but with no great insight on books.

In between my question here and today, I took advantage of the closing of one of the local Borders stores to pick up some books that were too expensive too just buy on spec, but at 30-50% off became more viable: first, at the Border's downtown location I bought Ubuntu Uneashed at full price. I pored over about 15 books about Linux distros, and honestly, Ubuntu is the first distro I've had a lot of experience with, so I stuck with Ubuntu books. After all, Edubuntu is the reason I'm getting into all of this, so why change horses?

At the other local store, I bought The Practical Guide to Ubuntu Linux, Ubuntu Hacks, and a book on CUPS administration for Linux servers. I strongly considered buying the Official Ubuntu Server Book, but they only had the 1st edition, and I'll need the new, 2nd Ed. that came out in 2010.

I am really getting into Mark Sobell's "Practical" Ubuntu. It reads and is organized a little like what I imagine a computer science course textbook should be like. Actually, the main part of the text is a lot like a good course book should be written, but the end of chapter "exercises" have questions that—at least so far—are a little vague and nowhere in the book is there an answer section that might help a Linux n00b confirm that he—me, I mean—is on the right track. Ubuntu Unleashed (Harmon, et al.) is a little more loosely organized and while it weighs every bit as much as Sobell's book, it seems more oriented toward the Ubuntu Desktop rather than the entire Linux experience as realized under the Ubuntu brand.

Ubuntu Hacks is far more advanced than I am. I just happen to have a PPC-based iBook circa 2003 that works fine on Linux if tethered by ethernet, but getting the Airport card to scan for available networks has been a real grind. I am hoping that the "Hacks" book will help me understand some of the information I've stumbled on about the internecine arrangements between Lucent Agere and Apple Airport and how to make said card actually do what it is supposed to do.

The CUPS book immediately answered a question I had almost two years ago when I was looking for a way to limit printing on our lab's XP-based network. At that time, the words "PyKota" and "CUPS" were completely new to me, and have led me down this amazing rabbit-hole called Linux. I can control my printing quotas simply and effectively using CUPS where XP mostly offered me for-pay solutions.

I am rapidly becoming a convert to Linux and have become dangerous for friends who ask me PC support questions because I'll launch into talk that is dangerously close to proselytizing.

Next Thursday night is the monthly LUG in my area. I'll be going. Meantime, I am marking this question "resolved" and hope to become a fully qualified Linux resource person.
posted by beelzbubba at 11:59 AM on March 10, 2011 [1 favorite]