Title. Mainly asking for the library side, but PC cafe is also interesting to ask about.

Mainly since Windows 11 is 64-bit only, and it seems Windows 12 is going to subscription based on top of that, neither of which public libraries can afford tossing out computers and paying more in subscription fees than they make with overdue books.

My local library is only open for 2 days a week, due to a lack of funds for hiring more staff in the area. They use older Dell all in ones, and that just makes me think if they don’t have the money for being open 5 days a week, they don’t have the money to buy 4 new computers for the space.

Not even getting into the bigger libraries part of that system or the ones nearby. Some have 8 computers in groups, with 4 stations of groups.

So I was just wondering, if anyone has started or is aware of a Library/Public Computer focused linux-based OS? Perhaps one that allows immutable systems, and the library card system backed most use to enable end user access. Perhaps that’s a config file tucked away somewhere.

And I guess the PC cafe OS is interesting, simply due to the fact that Linux gaming has been making huge strides, and PC cafes are still popular in Japan, Korea, and China.

EDIT: I am not in control or assistance to the library, just looking if there’s a potential solution to libraries like mine. If I could give links to a library computer manager, or if I could give upstream bug reports to people making such software.

  • privsecfoss
    104·
    1 year ago

    Sorry, but definitely not true.

    Source: See my comment regarding the majority of danish municipalities using Linux. No problem for the users or the people doing the sysadmin work.

      • privsecfoss
        51·
        1 year ago

        That would be my guess, yes. Why would the danish librians and users in libraries differ from other places? We’re talking ordinary people with an average in computer knowledge in cities and libraries of all sizes.

        Being a dane you have to explain the Missouri reference. If you mean something like small cities, see above.

          • privsecfoss
            2·
            1 year ago

            As I said, I cannot see the big difference. Please spell it out for me 🙂

            The ‘definitely not true’ part was a reply to ‘ain’t gonna fly, Liberians and people can’t use Linux’. Which is a statement from one person without any evidence to back it up. The evidence shows it’s a false statement, because it is in fact working on a large scale in Denmark, without issues and people are happy with it.

            So yeah, it is ‘definitely not true’.