20 May 2019 (last significant edit)
This page is a launching point for information about the This page describes certain features of the " Linux Desktop 2.0 " pilot/R&D project. While this project has been in progress for some time, these notes begin in July 2018.
There are an estimated 200-300 Linux desktop users at SLAC. This project aims to provide a basic managed and maintained building block desktop from which users may customize to their specific needs. At this writing, either Ubuntu or CentOS are available options. This is very much a work in progress....
Current Pilot Machine Status
A test machine, named comet2, was setup in Tom G's office on 7/13/2018. Linux (centos7) was installed over the network. Andrew set up the "old style" kerberos authentication to allow site-wide logins. This is expected to change in the near future to a Windows authentication scheme.
At this time, comet2 is considered available for reboot or rebuild with little or no notification as experts continue their development of the deployment software.
List of candidate add-on software to be included in CentOS 7 network-install image.
| Package | Status | Date installed | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | required | 7/13/2018 | Basic CLI |
| X11 | required | 7/17/2018 | X11+gnome+gazillion dependencies |
| window manager | required | 7/17/2018 | gnome based - working on conf file |
| desktop | required | 7/17/2018 | (various convenience apps) |
| printing | required | Printing will be via Windows AD IP based printing | |
| AFS | |||
| emacs | required | 7/19/2018 | |
chrome | |||
| thunderbird | required | 7/19/2018 | |
| NX | NoMachine client for use with NERSC | ||
| dbvis |
| ||
| citrix client | |||
| fastx | First attempt to install & run app failed | ||
| slack | |||
| zoom | (implies support for microphone, camera and speakers) | ||
| OpenOffice | required | 7/19/2018 | LibreOffice...same thing |
| python v3 | |||
Notes:
an effort to evolve from the "RHEL6-64 desktop server" model to one which is more up-to-date and more sustainable by the folks in SCS. The current focus of this work is to provide a path for updating an existing Linux RHEL6 (or earlier) machine to either Centos 7 or Ubuntu (16 or 18). Machines are expected to be resident at SLAC and connected to the SLAC public network and used in a scientific or engineering environment.
Contents:
- The Centos 7 pilot project: a description of building a Centos 7 based scientific/engineering desktop
- References relating to building a Ubuntu based desktop
Software installed via the GUI: Thunderbird, emacs, LibreOffice
Code Block sudo gnome-software- Attempt to install FastX downloaded from www.starnet.com. Code is unpacked from a tar.gz file and run without any special installation. Attempt to configure SLAC but code fails with a relocation error associated with /lib64/libssl.so.10
X11 & GUI installed in this way:
| Code Block | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
curl http://yum/centos-gui > /tmp/centos-gui
/bin/sh /tmp/centos-gui |