Public Linux Computer Setup

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This provides guidelines on setting up the public access internet computers in the hall

Hardware

  • Minimum Pentium III 800, 5G hard disk and 384MB Memory
  • Keyboard
  • Mouse
  • 17" monitor, if available, otherwise 15"
  • Speakers including power supply

BIOS

  • Check the bios currency, it may be worthwhile to upgrade at this point
  • Set to default (safe) settings
  • Check that bios does not refer to PXE ROM
  • Set boot order to CD Rom, then Hard Disk

Operating System and Applications

  1. In Bios
    1. Set to optimum (high performance)
    2. Check system clock is set to UTC correctly
  2. Default install of Ubuntu Desktop - current long term release (10.04 LTS is Lucid). Note that the video card requirements of the Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook edition (in particular Unity) exceed most if not all computers on hand. If installation is slow use the Alternate Install Disk. Hint: Press 'Esc' when the Ubuntu-Keyboard icon is seen to select install directly from boot. Hint:Use latest minor release to reduce amount of updates. Hint: Takes about 16 minutes on a Passmark 1110 machine.
    1. Install using English language
    2. Region is Australia: Time Zone:Australia (Adelaide)
    3. Keyboard layout: USA
    4. Erase and install using Entire disk
    5. Create a user name "bpuc", as default logon but using admin password, set to Log in automatically. Give a unique name to the computer.
  3. In Bios:
    1. Revert boot order to Hard Disk only after install
  4. Make sure system is set to auto-login without password (System->Administration->Login Screen to auto login as bpuc without allowing an alternative)
  5. Uncheck lock screen when idle in System->Preferences->ScreenSaver so as not to lock out user on an idle machine.
  6. Use restricted drivers if hardware requires it (e.g. video card)
  7. Make sure sound is not muted (in system bar, top right)
  8. Set package source to use local ISP mirror if available. (Don't forget to unselect the Ubuntu software repositories on the first panel of Software Sources if using the "Other Software" tab for Ubuntu software)
    1. For Internode just select it as the mirror on the first panel.
  9. Set package source options to automatically install security updates without confirmation
  10. Under other package source options add the partner repository
  11. Synaptic Package Manager
    1. Reload the catalogue
    2. Accept all updates
    3. Add all edubuntu-desktop which installs ubuntu-edu-* meta-packages (preschool, primary, secondary, tertiary)
    4. If not already present add TuxPaint
    5. If not already present add OpenOffice.
    6. Test Adobe Flash Player (test page at http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/. Use package manager to add flashplugin-installer if required for Flash
    7. Shockwave is not easily supported under Ubuntu
    8. Hardinfo - to display system information
    9. Scratch is in a Personal Package archive
      1. If installing on a 32 bit system add 'deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/scratch/ppa/ubuntu lucid main' to the list of sources [1]
      2. If installing on a 64 bit system follow the instructions for downloading 32 bit package and doing a force install 'sudo dpkg --force-architecture -i ./scratch_1.4.0.1-0ubuntu5_i386.deb' Note that this wont show up in the list of installed packages in the package manager.
    10. For Silverlight support install the moonlight-plugin-mozilla package. The Microsoft Media Pack can be installed from within a Silverlight page and is a better alternative to gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad, gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly and gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg.
    11. Install and then reboot the machine.
  12. Synaptic Package Manager (2nd pass)
    1. Sun Java - add sun-java6-jre package in Synaptic Package Manager (requires manual acceptance of license terms)
    2. Install. N.B. When java is installed manual confirmation is required during installation.
    3. After installation, set to default java; sudo update-alternatives --config java (If there is more than one version of Java installed, otherwise you will see There is only one alternative in link group java: /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun/jre/bin/java</br>Nothing to configure.
  13. Other Manual Software Install
    1. Chrome by Google: Install via http://www.google.com/chrome?platform=linux&hl=en
  14. Set Firefox home page to http://www.abc.net.au/children/
  15. Add the network printer
    1. Set the printer configuration -> printout options to "normal-grayscale" not "normal" which is colour.
  16. Set video card resolution to something suitable for the monitor used.
  17. Check and adjust the volume of sound.
  18. Record the computer in List of old computers.
Retrieved from "http://www.bpuc.org/wiki/Public_Linux_Computer_Setup"
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