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Hello all<br>
<br>
I was hoping to email on Sunday night or Monday, but got caught up
reviewing the code for remastersys...
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://github.com/taikedz/remastersys">https://github.com/taikedz/remastersys</a><br>
<br>
I have managed to put together what I believe will be able to be a
workflow that will allow even teachers themselves to make their own
customized ISO images in the future :-)<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
I've attached the preliminary notes; they will also be on
github.com/taikedz/our-pxe under the customization/ directory<br>
<br>
I have prepped a final demo CD with some relevant customizations; I
will seed this over bittorrent for demo if anyone is interested, or
just share some screenshots?<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
So if this customization workflow is acceptable, only two more items
need to be addressed:<br>
<br>
1/ preseed file for making the install unattended (my customization
method still requires initial input from user, but after that
everything comes pre-installed)<br>
<br>
The main question is about /how to find out/ what the options are we
are actually looking for...<br>
<br>
2/ & ...... the drasted PXE server. I've burned through a few
tutorials by now and no functioning setup.... anyone have a
method/guide by which to get from fresh-ubuntu14.04-install to
fully-functional-pxe ???<br>
<br>
My next intention is, if we can't set up a PXE server from scratch,
to make a home-grown solution. I'm thinking of remastering a CD to
contain a script that'll auto-partition, mkfs and mount /dev/sda,
then just rsync over the network...<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Tai<br>
<br>
PS -- (Guide Attached as markdown, also available at
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://github.com/taikedz/our-pxe/blob/master/customizer/oem/respinning_ubuntus.md">https://github.com/taikedz/our-pxe/blob/master/customizer/oem/respinning_ubuntus.md</a>
)<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 26/03/15 20:23, Christian Einfeldt
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAJdae4pLPjBN5EBg=wpL-NLYwsofZoGhOG0zfYNWqhxPH-X3ag@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>Hi,<br>
<br>
</div>
Thanks for your thoughts, Tai. My comments are in line below...<br>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Mar 26, 2015 at 11:32 AM, Tai
Kedzierski <span dir="ltr"><<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:dch.tai@gmail.com" target="_blank">dch.tai@gmail.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px
0.8ex;border-left:1px solid
rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr"><br>
<div>+++<br>
</div>
<div>PXE booting might require isolating a subnetwork
during install, which may not be fully suitable once
the school hits 20+ machines and needs to refresh all
of them...<br>
<br>
</div>
<div>Unless they're all fitted with wireless. Has anyone
got a way of isolating from the main network without
requiring a mass deployment of cables? (my site
networking skills are fairly basic, maybe I'm missing
a trick here)<br>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Abigail's Linux lab is fairly limited in scope, due to
the size of the room she is in. It is not likely to grow
beyond its current configuration, which is summarized
here:<br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_s0E7w40zs80yZNrVRqupml6jqADKjD9XoJ3uFkhQMw/">https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_s0E7w40zs80yZNrVRqupml6jqADKjD9XoJ3uFkhQMw/</a><br>
</div>
<div> </div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px
0.8ex;border-left:1px solid
rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr">
<div><br>
+++<br>
</div>
<div>Customization from basic is pretty hairy.<br>
<br>
</div>
<div>For those who've asked, the reason we are doing
pre-customization is to have an image that has
everything already on it. We're not burning the ISO to
discs, but prepping it for serving as an online image
over the local network.<br>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>In the past, there was some kind of boot CD that we
would put in the CD tray and reboot the machine. That
machine is summarized at a high level here:<br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zs4_G-hvTDho1K9lP4Nrcz3BqPdw7gIczESu5f7V114/">https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zs4_G-hvTDho1K9lP4Nrcz3BqPdw7gIczESu5f7V114/</a><br>
</div>
<div> </div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px
0.8ex;border-left:1px solid
rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr"><br>
<div>+++<br>
</div>
<div>Michael's alt dists<br>
<br>
</div>
<div>@Christian we will have to ask you to look into
those and decide. I'm continuing so far on the
assumption of Lubuntu for now, though if you're
getting more powerful machines in, can I suggest
something with a MATE desktop or Xfce?<br>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Yes, we are planning on growing the hardware
capabilities of the lab, and just yesterday we delivered
15 "new" machines to the lab. But for now, there are two
reasons we need to stay with Lubuntu:<br>
<br>
<ol>
<li>Many of the machines are old, as shown in the lab
summary linked below, some with as little as 500 MB of
RAM.</li>
<li>100 children come through that lab every day, and
training them on a new desktop is something that you
have to build into the curriculum. I think we are
going to have to stay with Lubuntu for this reason
alone through June of 2016. We need to give Abigail
time to plan her curriculum so at to re-train the kids
on the new interface.<br>
</li>
</ol>
Here is a summary of the <br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_s0E7w40zs80yZNrVRqupml6jqADKjD9XoJ3uFkhQMw/">https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_s0E7w40zs80yZNrVRqupml6jqADKjD9XoJ3uFkhQMw/</a><br>
</div>
<div> </div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px
0.8ex;border-left:1px solid
rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr">
<div><br>
<br>
+++<br>
</div>
<div>Abiword - @Christian mentioned this previously,
I've found the ODT (text processing) engine to be
rather non-compliant with standards, specifically on
document styling structure which is key not only for
formatting but also automatic chaptering and
sectioning. Alas, Abiword is a poor reflection of what
FOSS can do in a properly deployed environment.<br>
<br>
</div>
<div>Then, that's just me. I prefer LibreOffice as it's
as standards compliant as it gets - it's the reference
implementation from the Document Foundation, and
handles "the other standards" well too so
interoperability can happen smoothly.<br>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I wasn't aware that there was this problem. I thought
that AbiWord used solid truly open standards. I will ask
Abigail what she uses for text writing. <br>
</div>
<div> </div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px
0.8ex;border-left:1px solid
rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr">+++<br>
<div>Michael's suggestion of an information repository
that reflects the "current state" (as a wiki methinks)
is a good one. Just in trying to reconcile the threads
just now was not the most fun I've ever had...<br>
<br>
</div>
<div>I can set up a digitalOcean droplet as a temporary
shim, but that'll disappear once the project is
complete. If Partimus use digitalOcean, I believe I'll
be able to pass stewardship of it over instead...<br>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Sorry about that. Partimus does have a wiki, but as I
mentioned in a preceding email, I have seen wikis get
pummelled by trolls. <br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://partimus.org/wiki/Provisioning_Server"
target="_blank">http://partimus.org/wiki/Provisioning_Server</a><br>
<br>
I would like to keep that wiki low-traffic, because I have
found that as wikis gain public attention, they attract
trolls who like to deface and damage it. Just my two
cents. A google doc like our sandbox page is nice,
because AFAIK only people invited can edit it:<br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UEgt_fkGUVdANcnZ1W2S5Rv15Hx3S92Ynn9Mui3xB_E/"
target="_blank">https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UEgt_fkGUVdANcnZ1W2S5Rv15Hx3S92Ynn9Mui3xB_E/</a></div>
<div> </div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px
0.8ex;border-left:1px solid
rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr"><br>
<div>Oh, and let's have that multi-way chat/call. I can
set up a Mumble server for this if everyone is
comfortable with that.<br>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div><br>
</div>
<div dir="ltr">I have started a <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://doodle.com">doodle.com</a> poll to see
which times might be best for everyone. I do know that at
least Mike Rojas is not available during the work day, and
I am not available on Sundays, so that only leaves us
Saturdays. I hope that everyone will find a time that
works for them. Please bear in mind that Tai Kedzierski
is in Scotland and Alexandro Colorado is in Mexico. The
rest of us are in the San Francisco Bay Area.<br>
<br>
</div>
<div>Thanks very much for all of your great help to each of
you! <br>
</div>
<div dir="ltr"><br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px
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<div class="gmail_extra">
<div>
<div class="h5">
<div class="gmail_quote">
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px
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</blockquote>
</div>
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</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
-- <br>
<div class="gmail_signature">Christian Einfeldt</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
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