Comments on: Howto run WindowsXP on a Pentium/486, using Ubuntu LTSP

By: liferedux

liferedux — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 06:28:21 +0000

@Charles,
Sorry, I haven’t tried using local USB devices, on VMs over LTSP.
Thanks a ton! for the input on VBoxHeadless, will experiment soon, could use your help

@heri,
Thanks. Do try the setup and let me know, if there is any improvement which could be done.

By: heri

heri — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 08:46:23 +0000

Thank’s for the post.
I’ve been looking for ubuntu ltsp guide for newbie, and your post have helped me a lot.
All the best.

By: Charles Almond

Charles Almond — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 12:41:20 +0000

Thanks for the article – I have been working with the K12LTSP project recently in an attempt to do the same thing, and was wondering if you have gotten local (thin client) USB devices to show up in the virtual machine. This is the only thing I can’t seem to get working. I use VirtualBox a lot, but haven’t tried it for this setup.

One other thing you may look into is with LTSP, you can set up an rdesktop session as the X window manager in lts.conf for each client. Since VirtualBox has a built in RDP server, you could bypass the whole step of logging into Linux and starting the VM manually. Just start the VirtualBox VM with the VBoxVRDP or VBoxHeadless (depending on version) command through rc.local on the server.

By: Jean Brodeur

Jean Brodeur — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 01:35:05 +0000

Well…the answer to my question is here! I think that my old P1 will have some duty soon! Nice article and a Green way to keep those oldies back to work!

By: liferedux

liferedux — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 07:51:53 +0000

@ripperzane
Thanks! All the best with your LTSP project! Do blog about the Xubuntu setup. If its faster than a normal Ubuntu (GNOME) LTSP, I will update this article

@Paul
Yes Paul, this is the best way to put old machines to good use. Revive them!

By: Paul Roach

Paul Roach — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 08:14:11 +0000

Nice article….looking at doing something similar for a couple of old machines I’ve got lying around, as currently building a Ubuntu server…

Cheers

By: ripperzane

ripperzane — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:28:38 +0000

Interesting in the method.
I am currently setting up an LTSP scenario to bring me up to speed on yet another cool technology.
All in all, I am using Xubuntu as my main method of deploying this. It is fast, light weight, and I like sticking to linux. Coool guide and keep it up.

@ DickClark
By going LTSP, you have no data running on the local box that will stay there. Also, you update the server, and you can update the clients, making doing OS updates and patching centralized. So basically, you keep up the server, and the clients will follow. It takes a little bit due to (at least in Ubuntu) you have to update the image the clients will run, but it beats having to up date (and eat bandwidth) all the clients just for one security patch.

By: liferedux

liferedux — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 19:05:19 +0000

Mduduzi,
if you have installed virtualbox from the .deb file, you should be able to start it by typing virtualbox in the terminal or selecting Applications > System > innotek VirtualBox.

do let me know if you are facing any specific errors… need more info , before i give up and point you to the virtualbox forums

By: Mduduzi

Mduduzi — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 18:26:36 +0000

I was specifically attracted to the article:

Howto run WindowsXP on a Pentium/486, using Ubuntu LTSP
Posted on January 1, 2008 by liferedux

…sadly, it stop short of explaining what is the difficult part to me: How to launch Virtualbox on the terminal.

I have the WinXP virtual machine running on the server. However, I click on VirtualBox on the terminal–nothing happens!
Can you please help me out?
Mduduzi.

By: liferedux

liferedux — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 15:42:54 +0000

Thanks!

I was trying to keep all the software / OS related stuff at a single location (Server). In that way , I wouldn’t have to update the client OS / patch it / ensure its virus free, etc…

Anyway, your comment is cool. Didn’t think about that approach, will surely use it in cases, where i cant find a Net-boot capable NIC

But hey, its tougher to find a 486/Pentium with a motherboard capable of booting from a USB drive! I’d rather plug in a net-boot capable NIC.