Getting started with RaspberryPi-LTSP

Ok, I am interested... How do I get started?

First you need to grab the required equipment.

• An old desktop/laptop computer for the server (preferably made within the last 6 years).
• A network switch (requires at least a single gigabit or 1000/100/10mbit port for the server).
• A router (for a standalone network) or connection to your schools network.
• Some Ethernet cables.
• A Raspberry Pi and SD card with a size of at least 128mb (so yes, 2gb, 4gb, 8gb etc cards will also work).

I dont have a spare old desktop/laptop computer sitting around currently..

Note this method is not officially supported although should work anyway.
You can also install a virtual copy of Ubuntu onto another computer to try it out first. This comes with the advantage it is all self contained. If you don't like Raspi-LTSP, you can just delete the entire virtual machine (is contained in a single file).
Although there are a number of piece of software for virtualisation (and if you have your own you prefer to use, please use it), a few examples include Hyper-V, VMWare, Parallels.
I will be using Virtualbox, a free cross-platform virtualisation platform.
For more info on Virtualbox setup with Raspi-LTSP, check the Virtualbox install guide

Installing

Once you have the needed equipment, you will need to install Ubuntu 14.04 onto your server computer and then install Raspi-LTSP. Overall this takes roughly 2 hours. Of that 2 hours, you are required at the computer for 20-30 minutes maximum. Finally when the installation is complete you must copy the generated SD card boot files to a blank SD card.

1. Installing Ubuntu server
2. Installing RaspberryPi-LTSP
3. Copying files to SD card

Once completed, you may want to change some of the other options in Raspi-LTSP, the full documentation list can be found back on the home page.