I'm trying to set up a LTSP server for Edubuntu on a machine with 2 gig of memory and an AMD Athlon 1800. I couldn't get 8.10 to work, so started again with 8.04. I successfully installed the server itself but ran into problems when installing the "ubuntu-desktop". The first problem was the report of a "Kernel panic - not syncing. Fatal error in interrupt". The whole system hung up and I had to switch off/on. Eventually I was able to successfully start a "Safe Gnome" and try to continue installing. apt-get told me to run "sudo dpkg --configure -a" but after a while this too hung and I had to reboot, but could only get to "Safe terminal". From "safe terminal" I tried to run aptitude, but it too froze while loading its cache. Eventually I was able to complete "sudo dpkg --configure -a", but again had to reboot part way through. Now if I run "dpkg -C" it reports no errors

The current state of play is that I can run "Safe terminal", but not "safe gnome". Before I log in, I can successfully ping the new machine from elsewhere on the network, but about the time that the desktop appears (with the Heron and the taskbar at the top), the mouse freezes and the server stops responding to ping - seems to me to be totally hung.

This is not what I was expecting with Linux, I am disappointed and frustrated but prepared to persevere if someone can give me some advice.

Hi there, I have run 8.04 as an LTSP server, can you tell me, would you try using the alternate desktop CD, since you really only need the server kernel for when you have RAM above 3GB or so. You say you have 2GB. I think you might have better success with this. This: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Ub...SPQuickInstall is a good HOWTO.

A quick question. Are you trying to run a RAID setup of some sort? This gave me problems, similar to what you describe: and I went back to running a simple one disk setup, but mounted /home from an NFS server on the network. This worked very well.

Here: http://brainstorms.in/?p=438 is another example, using 9.04, I haven't used it, and it seems a little simplistic, but it may work well for you.

Thank you, but I'm afraid this does not help. As I understand it, the "alternate desktop CD" is only available from 9.04 onwards. When I tried this, it seemed to go through the install OK but was then unable to show the (graphical) login prompt - the screen just went blank. That's why I went back to 8.04.

I'm not using RAID, the "kernel panic" arose when I was trying to install "ubuntu-desktop"

Sounds very strange to me. Can you give any other info? Have you checked that your downloaded image for install is not corrupted?