[plug] Custom Knoppix or Custom CD Distro (IRC)

[Craig Ringer]

> Another option that may be even simpler would be to set up LTSP on the
> server and run the others as thin clients.  LTSP is quite simple to
> install, 

s/quite/very/

seriously. The manual is pretty good, too. Read it cover to cover. The 
only hard bit is figuring out which boot rom you need for your client 
machines, and (at least for testing) finding a floppy disk that ACTUALLY 
WORKS.

I've also done a conversion of the tomsrtbt ISO to a network boot image, 
so you can netboot it like you do an LTSP workstation. Quite handy, 
because instead of the time consuming tomsrtbt load, you get a 1 second 
load off a floppy then the rest comes down over the network at 100mbps :-)

> You could then set up KDM to automatically log in as a certain user

No need for [GXK]DM. Just use startx:

su username -c startx /usr/local/bin/my_custom_x_session_script.sh


Depending on what you're doing, even a window manager may be optional. 
If the app you're launching accepts the -geometry argument (as they all 
should, but too few now do) you can simply tell it to use up the entire 
X display and do away with a window manager entirely.