Noob to Linux wanting to set up Live CDs of Tiny Core for School PC Lab

[wjjones1]

Hi folks,

My intention is to set up a series of Live CDs with Tiny Core on them for use in my school computer lab. We've been donated a bunch of old Pent. 2s and 3s, and I figured that using Tiny Core would be the best way to maximize their usability; however, I am a complete novice with Linux. I will lay out what I am wanting to do precisely, and perhaps some suggestions can be made.

My thanks in advance.

I would like to set up a Live CD that will auto-load Opera (or Firefox) and OpenOffice.

I also need some help with understanding why the graphics when running Opera or Firefox go strange. I believe, from my readings, that installing xorg would remedy the problem, but I am not sure.

Thanks,
Jason

[gutmensch]

Hi Jason!

I think that's a really good idea ;-) Remastering a tinycore live cd with special extensions is no big deal, there are articles in the forum (even ready programs for this purpose like http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php?topic=6645.0) or descriptions in the wiki. However I would suggest you to try everything out with an USB key (if your PCs are able to boot from them or use a newer one just for testing). There are programs like unetbootin, which write the live-cd.iso directly to an USB key and then it's bootable - very simple.

Using Xorg over Xvesa might be the solution for your graphics issues - although old hardware usually runs fine on both of them. You also might want to edit files like .xsession where you can setup the graphics for Xvesa and via commands for Xorg too. Basically this file (like others) is loaded at boot time from the backup file mydata.tgz or from a standard profile (/etc/skel) if it doesn't exist.

Best regards,
Robert

[curaga]

Have you considered using them as thin clients? At least on P2 it will not be nice to run firefox or openoffice.
Also, how's their ram? If it's in the typical low figures (~64-128mb), you will need swap to run those heavy apps. A thin client scenario could have much better usability for the lower-end machines of those.

A P3 with enough ram will be usable even with OO, though.

[dufus]

Got to jump in with my 2 cents worth here. Curaga seems to have the right advice. If you checkout http://ltsp.org  they have an excellent reputaton, and they specialize in just your type of situation (and I like 'em personally ) It'll give you more bang for your buck$ and won't take as long as burning CD's will. Tinycore makes it much easier than it was just a few years ago.

[gerald_clark]

TC boots just fine over the network too.
http://wiki.tinycorelinux.com/Netbooting