Recently at the Aspiration Tech Nonprofit Software Developer Summit, Jamila gave a short presentation based on their work with setting up Ubuntu LTSP computer labs. Our clients have found this to be a great use of old computers which are too slow or too broken to use otherwise. The computers are set up in such a way that there is one main computer running as an Ubuntu Linux server, and then several computers can be set up as terminals that connect to that server.
The terminals don't have to have a hard drive, or an operating system, or anything installed on them at all. If one of the terminals is damaged, it can simply be replaced by another old computer. We have found this to be a great setup for folks who want to provide their members or clients with a place to use the internet, but don't have the budget or resources for brand new computers. For more information on Ubuntu LTSP or LTSP in general, check out the following links or contact us.