Thin Client How-To

NOTE: This software is currently in a pre-alpha state. This means that you probably won't be happy with it unless you enjoy helping to track down bugs. If you're looking for something production-ready, head over to the [http://www.ltsp.org/ LTSP] site.

Requirements

You will need:

• An Ubuntu "breezy" system to be the server (the current development branch, to be released in October 2005)
• At least one PXE-bootable system to be a client
• A bunch of disk space
• A fast network connection, or a local Breezy mirror, or some patience
• A DHCP server which is capable of supporting PXE clients, or a separate network segment where you can run a dedicated DHCP server
• Command-line familiarity
• A sense of adventure

• A burning desire to send feedback to [mailto:ubuntu-devel@lists.debian.org ubuntu-devel]

Getting Started

1. Set up the DHCP server
   • If you have an existing DHCP server which can support PXE clients:

     • Configure it to pass a boot filename of /ltsp/pxelinux.0 and a root path of /opt/ltsp/i386

     • For ISC DHCPD, use the following options:

       filename "/ltsp/pxelinux.0";
       option root-path "/opt/ltsp/i386";

     • Install ltsp-server on the server: {{{sudo apt-get install ltsp-server

}}}

• If you want to run a dedicated DHCP server on the thin client server:

  1. Install ltsp-server-standalone on the server: {{{sudo apt-get install ltsp-server-standalone

}}}

1. Replace /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf with the following contents, or adapt to your needs:

   authoritative;
   subnet 192.168.0.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
     range 192.168.0.20 192.168.0.63;
     option domain-name-servers 192.168.0.1;
     option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
     filename "/ltsp/pxelinux.0";
     option root-path "/opt/ltsp/i386";
   }

1. Build the thin client runtime environment: {{{sudo ltsp-build-client

}}}

• This script is hardcoded to use a particular Ubuntu mirror, so you may wish to edit it if you have a nearby mirror

1. Check /opt/ltsp/i386/etc/ssh/ssh_known_hosts and ensure that your host key is associated with your host's IP address. Depending on your /etc/hosts configuration, this may not always be correct automatically (yet). If it looks like this:

   servername ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAABI...

   then add the IP address like this:

   servername,192.168.0.1 ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAABI...

2. Optionally, create /opt/ltsp/i386/etc/lts.conf. If you don't create one, reasonable defaults and auto-detected values will be used.

3. PXE boot the client and see what happens. If all goes well, you should see a (very ugly) graphical login dialog.
4. Log in, with any user authorized to login remotely via ssh, and see what happens. If all goes well, you should get a working desktop session on the server.

5. Send mail to [mailto:ubuntu-devel@lists.ubuntu.com ubuntu-devel] with your findings