[lug] Re: server vs. workstation

It is not clear from your post if this is a computer class, or just a
lab where the kids can come use a computer to do school work and the
like. But if it is a class, here is my thinking, and it comes from my
experience when I was a student of Linux/Unix. Part of using linux, is
understanding the little nuts and bolts of it's operation. I would
highly suggest allowing the students to install the distro and packages
themselves. While Windows is trying to make idiot-proof operating
systems, it takes control and pwer away from the user. Linux/Unix give
that power back by being able to make mistakes, recover and learn from
them.

If it is just a lab, here are my suggestions: If you have a a great
powerful server, the terminal server idea would be great. If not, the
disk cloning is probably your best bet. There are several options to
make this easy.

http://www.partimage.org/

I know you didn't sound too thrilled about it, but it really is less
work than setting each machine up individually. A slightly different
option would be to install over the LAN.

http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Network-Install-HOWTO.html

This takes a bit of time to do at first, but allows complete reinstalls
easily in the future. (a great idea for when the school year is over,
since kids will tend to muck up alot of little things) This will allow
you to take some time and set up the client config, and then once that
is done, do an unattended install on each machine. The steps on the
website are for Red Hat, SUSE and Debian, but I am sure can be used by
any distro with the install of a few packages.

One final option I can suggest, which is a bit more technical, build
your own linux distro. I don't really suggest it, cause it could take
some time to prepare.

http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/

Good luck!