If you are going for a thin client setup, you definitely want to consider NoMachine NX (or the FreeNX variety). These use a _very_ efficient compression scheme that allows you to get great responsiveness and graphics throughput on the network even with limited bandwidth.
A server with a quadcore CPU and plenty of RAM should be able to handle the task. However, with just 5 workplaces in the lab, why not use full PC clients with local Linux OS and apps installed? Once these are setup, they should not be hard or time-intensive to maintain and you will get much more computing power at each workplace. With this setting, you could do with inexpensive hardware for both the server and clients. A good idea for GIS work is using a dual monitor setup or at least widescreen displays. Benjamin maning sambale wrote:
Hi, I am a new instructor on Basic GIS in a small college in the Philippines. We find it hard to request for a dedicated GIS lab for student to tinker around. In last term's basic GIS course, we used the foss4g2006 lausanne live-CD for our exercise using the schools generic computer lab. The live-cd works just fine, we basically set-up the samba server so that students can access Philippine datasets for the exercises. For this term, were trying out the ominiverdi live-cd. With constant lobbying, I finally persuaded the department to explore setting-up a dedicated GIS lab. No assurance on when and how will this initiative will go through, but I was asked to write a proposal on how do we plan to implement this project. I would like to ask this list on experiences in setting up a GIS lab for students (both for undergrad & graduate course). Initially, I have the following on my mind: hardware: 1 server, 5 thin clients OS: Linux LTSP route (debian-based) GIS applications: OSGEO stack (GRASS, QGIS, Mapserver) databse and stats: R, postgesql other apps: standard office applications (openoffice, firefox, pdf reader) online course management: moodle Any ideas on how we should go about this? One thing thats bugging me is, can LTSP setup handle GIS computing-intensive tasks using the thin clients. Apart from preparing the proposal, I am also looking for sponsors or where we can submit the proposal for possible funding. I know ESRI has this "altruistic" facility to schools. But I also want the lab as advocating for software freedom (as in speech) philosophy. Any org/institution we can ask for help? Any ideas would be helpful. cheers, maning
-- Benjamin Ducke, M.A. Archäoinformatik (Archaeoinformation Science) Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte (Inst. of Prehistoric and Historic Archaeology) Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel Johanna-Mestorf-Straße 2-6 D 24098 Kiel Germany Tel.: ++49 (0)431 880-3378 / -3379 Fax : ++49 (0)431 880-7300 www.uni-kiel.de/ufg _______________________________________________ grassuser mailing list grassuser@grass.itc.it http://grass.itc.it/mailman/listinfo/grassuser
