“Portland Oregon, December 17, 2003
Paul Nelson pnelson@riverdale.k12.or.us
http://www.k12ltsp.org/contents.html
(503)892-0722
It works. It’s free. Duh…
K12LTSP 4.0 (K12 Linux Terminal Server Project) released on December 17.
Portland, Oregon December 17, 2003 – K12LTSP is FREE Linux desktop server software with a successful record of saving millions of dollars for schools, public agencies and businesses. Developed in 2001 by Oregon educators as a FREE alternative for schools using the Microsoft Windows(tm) operating system, K12LTSP is now used widely around the world. Version 4.0 represents a significant step forward in speed, ease of use and features. More than 50,000 schools, government agencies and businesses downloaded K12LTSP last year. Version 4 will be even more popular.
K12LTSP is based on Fedora Core 1 Linux (http://fedora.redhat.com/) and the Linux Terminal Server Project (http://ltsp.org) packages. Fedora is a Red-Hat-sponsored (http://redhat.com) and community-supported open source project. Open source licensing produces better software because the code is published freely and users are encouraged to submit improvements.
K12TLSP installs terminal software on a server that powers diskless workstations (thin-clients). Applications run on the server with only the display, keyboard and mouse running on the workstations. This allows the continued use of older computers while avoiding costly upgrades. New K12LTSP terminals cost less than $200 each. While the cost of operation is lower, users enjoy a faster and more reliable software environment. K12LTSP is also immune from the most common viruses that can cripple organizations with hundreds of networked workstations.
A typical 100 desktop installation of a Windows(tm) based computer network could cost more than $100,000 while the same network running K12LTSP would cost less than than $50,000. Reusing legacy hardware can reduce that cost to less than $10,000. K12LTSP is FREE software. There are no licenses to count or pay for. Users are encouraged to make copies and give it away.
K12LTSP provides a wide selection of productivity applications. Web browsers, e-mail, word processing, spreadsheet, presentation and graphics applications are included and are free. The point and click interface is easy to use and requires little or no retraining.
-more-
K12LTSP 4.0 (page2)
After two years of using K12LTSP at Riverdale High School in Portland, Oregon, technology director Paul Nelson is back in the classroom. I used to spend all day fighting viruses and working on computers. Now I teach again. My school gained back a teacher and saved $50,000.
The motto of the K12LTSP project is, It works. It’s free. Duh…
Improvements in K12LTSP 4.0 include:
Gnome 2.4 Desktop with Nautilus file manager (whttp://ww.gnome.org )
KDE 3.1 ( http://www.kde.org )
LTSP 4.0 core package (http://www.ltsp.org ) including easier configuration, secure connectivity for local applications and screen scripting for multiple sessions on a single terminal.
OpenOffice 1.1 – office productivity suite (http://www.openoffice.org )
Improved video performance with XFree86 version 4.3
ext3 journaled file system
Auto detection of PCI network, video, & sound cards
DCHP 3.0 supporting both BOOTP and PXE booting by default
Evolution e-mail package (http://www.ximian.com )
Rdesktop ( http://www.rdesktop.org ) Windows Remote Desktop Client
Samba & Netatalk – Windows/AppleShare file servers
SquidGuard – Free web content filtering (http://www.squidguard.org )
Eric Harrison from the Multnomah County Education Service District is the lead developer of K12LTSP. It is completely free to download and use. Redistribution is encouraged.
Web Link: http://www.k12ltsp.org/contents.html
Contact Information:
Paul Nelson pnelson@riverdale.k12.or.us
Riverdale School District http://www.riverdale.k12.or.us
9727 SW Terwilliger Blvd.
Portland, OR 97219
(503)892-0722
Eric Harrison eharrison@mail.mesd.k12.or.us
Multnomah County Education Service District http://www.mesd.k12.or.us
P.O. Box 301039
11611 NE Ainsworth Circle
Portland Oregon 97220
(503)257-1554
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