How to configure, update and auto login Ubuntu 12.04 LTSP Fat Clients Submitted by The Fan Club on Thu, 2012-09-13 00:00 This guide is based on the comprehensive LTSP documentation done by the Ubuntu Community - Ubuntu Community Documentation - UbuntuLTSP This guide is intended as a relatively easy step by step guide to: Configure Ubuntu 11.04, 11.10 and 12.04 fat clients. Update and Upgrade fat clients Install software on fat clients Auto login fat client users. Configure fat client user experience. Last updated : 14-09-2012 Requirements: Ubuntu 11.04/11.10/12.04 x64 machine with LTSP server configured and running. See How to create a Ubuntu 12.04 x64 LTSP server with 32bit thin clients. 1 x Network switch / hub 1 x Router with internet connection Thin/Fat client computer. This can be any network boot enabled machine, or a Virtual machine like VirtualBox. See How to create a VirtualBox Ubuntu LTSP Thin Client. 1. Disable root login on fat clients. To disable root login from thin clients edit the ssh_config file . Open the Terminal Window and enter : sudo gedit /opt/ltsp/i386/etc/ssh/ssh_config Change the following if set or add to the bottom of the config file : PermitRootLogin no 2. Copy DNS and Repository information from server to fat client to sync updates. To update the DNS information on the fat client image simply copy your LTSP server DNS details to the client image. Open the Terminal Window and enter : sudo cp /etc/resolv.conf /opt/ltsp/i386/etc/resolv.conf An easy way to install software sources for fat clients is to install the repositories on the LTSP server and then copy the software sources to the fat client image. Open the Terminal Window and enter : sudo cp /etc/apt/sources.list /opt/ltsp/i386/etc/apt/sources.list sudo cp /etc/apt/sources.list.d/* /opt/ltsp/i386/etc/apt/sources.list.d/ 3. Update & Upgrade fat client installation. For normal updates open the Terminal Window and enter : sudo chroot /opt/ltsp/i386 apt-get update sudo chroot /opt/ltsp/i386 apt-get upgrade When done, update the client image sudo ltsp-update-image --arch i386 For Kernel updates do the following from the Terminal : export LTSP_HANDLE_DAEMONS=false sudo mount --bind /dev /opt/ltsp/i386/dev sudo chroot /opt/ltsp/i386 mount -t proc proc /proc apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade exit sudo ltsp-update-kernels sudo umount /opt/ltsp/i386/proc sudo umount /opt/ltsp/i386/dev When done, update the client image sudo ltsp-update-image --arch i386 4. Install additional fat client software. If you have added the Google Chrome PPA's details to your software sources, and copied these sources in step 2. you will be able to install Google-Chrome, open the Terminal Window and enter : sudo chroot /opt/ltsp/i386 apt-get install google-chrome-stable To install the Flash Plugin for your thin/fat clients, open the Terminal Window and enter : sudo chroot /opt/ltsp/i386 apt-get install flashplugin-installer To replace Gnome-Screensaver (Black screen only) with XScreensaver, open the Terminal Window and enter : sudo chroot /opt/ltsp/i386 apt-get remove --purge gnome-screensaver sudo chroot /opt/ltsp/i386 apt-get install xscreensaver xscreensaver-gl When done, update the client image sudo ltsp-update-image --arch i386 5. Autostart software on all fat clients. To autostart a program for all fat client users is fairly easy, simply copy the .desktop shortcut of the application to the /etc/xdg/autostart folder. If you want to start google-chrome and xscreensaver for all fat client users open the Terminal Window and enter : sudo cp /opt/ltsp/i386/usr/share/applications/google-chrome.desktop /opt/ltsp/i386/etc/xdg/autostart/ sudo cp /opt/ltsp/i386/usr/share/applications/xscreensaver-properties.desktop /opt/ltsp/i386/etc/xdg/autostart/xscreensaver.desktop Tip: To autostart Google Chrome in full screen mode on a specific webpage, edit the new autostart google-chrome.desktop file and add --kiosk and you site URL as shown below : [Desktop Entry] X-AppInstall-Package=google chrome X-AppInstall-Popcon=39584 X-AppInstall-Section=universe Version=1.0 Name=Google Chrome GenericName=Web Browser Comment=Access the Internet Exec=/opt/google/chrome/google-chrome --incognito --kiosk http://www.google.com Terminal=false X-MultipleArgs=false Icon=google-chrome Type=Application Categories=Network;WebBrowser; MimeType=text/html;text/xml;application/xhtml_xml;x-scheme-handler/http;x-scheme-handler/https;x-scheme-handler/ftp; X-Ayatana-Desktop-Shortcuts=NewWindow;NewIncognito [NewWindow Shortcut Group] Name=New Window Exec=/opt/google/chrome/google-chrome TargetEnvironment=Unity [NewIncognito Shortcut Group] Name=New Incognito Window Exec=/opt/google/chrome/google-chrome --incognito TargetEnvironment=Unity Now edit the new autostart xscreensaver file and replace "-demo" with "-nosplash" : sudo gedit /opt/ltsp/i386/etc/xdg/autostart/xscreensaver.desktop 6. Auto login fat clients based on IP address. To auto login clients you need to supply the usernames and passwords for each user based on the IP address of the client machine. For the Terminal Window and enter : sudo gedit /var/lib/tftpboot/ltsp/i386/lts.conf Replace the usernameX and passwordX with the username and password for each user : [Default] # Local Apps LOCAL_APPS = True LOCAL_APPS_MENU = True LOCAL_APPS_MENU_ITEMS = firefox, google-chrome # Network settings DNS_SERVER = 192.168.1.1 LDM_DIRECTX = True # Theme Settings LDM_THEME = ubuntu # Restrictions LOCALDEV_DENY_CD = True LOCALDEV_DENY_USB = True LOCALDEV_DENY_INTERNAL_DISKS = True # Auto Login LDM_AUTOLOGIN = True [192.168.1.21] LDM_USERNAME = username1 LDM_PASSWORD = password1 [192.168.1.22] LDM_USERNAME = username2 LDM_PASSWORD = password2 [192.168.1.23] LDM_USERNAME = username3 LDM_PASSWORD = password3 [192.168.1.24] LDM_USERNAME = username4 LDM_PASSWORD = password4 [192.168.1.25] LDM_USERNAME = username5 LDM_PASSWORD = password5