An Inexpensive Approach for a Scalable, Multi-Boot Computer Lab

Abstract

Just as a community benefits from a diverse population, students can benefit from experiencing a variety of Operating System environments. Valuable tools can often exist on one platform that are not available on all platforms. However, with limited resources, it can be challenging for institutions when attempting to provide multiple platforms for their students. This paper demonstrates how a lab can be maintained and configured to boot multiple Operating Systems using open source tools. In this example, all operating environments except Windows XP are kept invisible from general users to avoid confusion. While Windows is set to boot by default, the systems can also boot various Linux based systems such as a thin client with Linux Terminal Server Project (LTSP), ROCKS clustering software and open source partition imaging software for maintenance.