[luau] MPLUG Status Update 7/23/2002

Warren Togami warren at togami.com
Tue Jul 23 21:11:01 PDT 2002


MPLUG Status Update 7/23/2002
----------------------

1) St. John the Baptist school ordered 3Com905-txm PXE bootable network
cards.  As soon as they come in we will be able to setup their lab of 15
Linux thin clients.  They already have a LTSP server ready.

2) St. Louis school was very interested in LTSP clients, but their
administration is dragging their feet during the summer.  This may be
stalled until the school semester begins.

3) Installation of additional thin clients at Mid-Pac is waiting on the
WinRoute DHCP server to be replaced by a Linux DHCP server.  This is
necessary for network booting and TFTP'ing the kernel.  It appears that this
is finally happening soon.

4) I am soon talking with Mililani High School about using LTSP to improve
their current SunRay thin clients.  Sun really screwed up their thin client
deployment across the country... they are extremely slow and people have
been very unhappy with it.  I am quite sure that with LTSP I will be able to
either augment or replace their SunRay server-side to make it into a useful
and fast lab.
Their lab situation is rather pitiful.  Because their SunRay lab is "slow"
they have scheduled their Java class to use a lab of Windows Celeron
machines, while a keyboarding class uses the SunRay.  I can't fix that
situation for the upcoming semester, but I can at least prove to them that
Thin Clients do not suck.

5) Ryan Shrout, owner of AMDMB.com has donated a Tyan Tiger MPX motherboard
and two 1.2GHz Athlon MP processors to MPLUG for school Linux server use.
These parts were running part of the AMDMB site until a week ago.  Whatever
school pays for the rest of the server and uses it for a minimum of 30 thin
clients can receive this hardware.

6) I have an appointment with State Senator Brian Taniguchi to discuss the
benefits Linux for state education late this week.  I hope this goes well.

7) I have begun talks with CompUSA in having a "Linux Demo Day" real soon
during a weekend.  We would setup a booth near the training center at
CompUSA Ala Moana and demonstrate the server and network capabilities of
Linux.  This audience is targetted mainly to business people and people
taking CompUSA
training classes.
CompUSA has also mentioned that they have computer hardware ready to be
donated to schools.  They also receive hardware from other sources that will
go toward schools, so they will keep us in mind as a recipient for
donations.


What do we need?
------------------
1) INFORMATION
We need information about what PCI 10/100 ethernet cards are both bootable
(PXE or otherwise) and of high quality.  We have identified the 3Com
3c905-txm as one such excellent bootable card and are seeking information
about which other cards would suffice.
2) HARDWARE
We need vendor sources for these cards that have been identified as good.
Please help to find vendors.
3) COMPUTER DONATIONS
We need donations of Pentium or higher machines to be used as thin clients.
We have a greatest need for computers that are all uniform.
4) MEDIA EXPOSURE
We need to get our Linux for Education Initiative into more mainstream news
media.  This includes newspapers, magazines, radio news, and evening
television news.  Please help me find contacts to make this happen, I will
talk to them.
5) SCHOOLS
We need more schools to become recipients of Linux thin clients.  Please
find me contact information for school Principals and Tech Coordinators.

Warren Togami
warren at togami.com





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