Ubuntu

is there any way like network boot ?

Asked by Mr. MInhaj

i am a ubuntu user using jaunty.
recently a question knocked my mind.
is it possible to boot multiple pc(without HDD) from a central ubuntu installed HDD ?
shortly, network boot ?

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Best Tom (tom6) said : 		#1

That's the old style way of using a linux or other unix-based platform. 1 machine with multiple users logged in with their own keyboard, mouse and monitor. I think each user was refered to as having a workstation or terminal.

A network boot is when several entire machines are connected to a server and the server switches the machines on.

I'm not sure how easy the first way is with Ubuntu as running multiple monitors might be an issue. However people on their own machines might be able to all tunnel into the machine using VPN or something and all be able to use their various user accounts that way. People seem to appreciate each having their own machine rather than relying on the big main machine working.

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

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Mr. MInhaj (imhell99) said : 		#2

Thanks Tom, that solved my question.

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Tom (tom6) said : 		#3

There are many other linux distros and some of them are likely to be aimed at doing exactly what you want. I would ask in
http://www.linuxquestions.org
and also look up distros in
http://distrowatch.com
perhaps even navigate to their "Readers Comments" page and ask in there. This week the regular Readers seem to be having a few stupid arguments again so they clearly need some good questions to focus on ;) I think it's appreciated when they get a question like this to really try to help with ;)

I would suspect that Redhat or CentOs might be good ones to look into but i could easily be wrong
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=centos

If you are looking to install kiosk machines to report to a central point then many distros have been used for this but mostly they seem to have some cheap little machine (perhaps even one rescued from a rubbish dump) hidden inside the kiosk and running some very tiny & fast distro. I know someone who is planning to take his old laptop out of it's case so he can cool it better and use it for something like this ;)

Please let us know how it's going :)
Thanks, good luck and regards from
Tom :)