matthew@seymour:~$ sudo ltsp-build-clientIf your server is a 64-bit system and your thin clients use a different processor
architecture, you should run that command with the —arch option, as
follows:
Click here to view code image
matthew@seymour:~$ sudo ltsp-build-client --arch i386
Most people will be installing from scratch and not reusing a system with
Ubuntu already installed. This is still quite easy. You must download the
alternative install CD from the Ubuntu website at http://releases.ubuntu.com,
where you can find the release version of Ubuntu you want to use for the
server. You may want the current release), or you might want to use an LTS
release; we recommend always using the latest LTS release. Click the release
version you want to use and then find the link for the alternative install CD
for your server’s processor architecture, either 32-bit or 64-bit. Download it
and burn the image to a CD as discussed in Chapter 1, “Installing Ubuntu and
Post-Installation Configuration.”
Make sure all your thin clients are connected and set to boot from the network
using PXE but turned off. Then boot the server using the alternative CD, press
F4 for the Modes menu, and choose Install an LTSP Server. A regular Ubuntu
installation begins. Near the end of the installation, a message appears that
lets you know the thin client system is being built on the server. You are
notified that it is being compressed into an image, and when the process is
complete, you reboot your server and remove the CD at the appropriate
moment in the process.
After the server has rebooted and is running, you can turn on your thin clients,
and they boot from the network using the image on the server. Thin clients
can run any programs installed on the server.
Using LTSP
When you boot a thin client in an LTSP network, it retrieves the boot image
from the LTSP server and uses it to create the environment to be displayed to
the user. The process uses Dynamic Host Control Protocol (DHCP) to request
from and assign to the client an IP address on the network. The process then
downloads the kernel and initial RAM disk from the server and then
downloads the LTSP configuration and mounts the server-hosted file system.
It uses chroot to use this file system as the client’s own root file system and
then finishes the boot using the instructions in that file system. This is a
highly configurable process. By default, the client boots to a login screen