Linux in Schools
Cost savings, flexibility, and a huge pool of applications have made Linux a wonderful alternative
to proprietary systems for many schools. One project has been particularly successful in schools:
the K12 Linux Terminal Server Project (www.k12ltsp.org).
K12LTSP is based on the Linux Terminal Service Project (www.ltsp.org) and Fedora
(www.fedoraproject.org), but is tuned to work particularly in schools. With K12LTSP, you
centralize all your school??™s applications on one or more server machines. Then you can use lowend
PCs (old Pentiums or thin clients) as workstations. With thin clients starting under $200 or
old PCs already hanging around your school, you can service a whole class or even a whole
school for little more than the cost of the servers and some networking hardware.
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Linux First Steps Part I
By centralizing all the school??™s software on a limited number of servers, K12LTSP can offer both
security (only a few servers to watch over) and convenience (no need to reinstall hundreds of
Windows machines to upgrade or enhance the software). Each client machine controls the display,
mouse, and keyboard, while all of the user??™s applications and files are stored on and run from
the server.
The K12LTSP distribution contains many battle-tested open source applications, including full
GNOME and KDE desktops, Evolution e-mail, Firefox browser, OpenOffice.
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