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I have 20 identical small form factor pc that are going to be used as digital signage machines. we are using ubuntu on them. So my question is, is there some way that i can install on one machine everything that is needed (ubuntu, digital signage software teamviewer chrome etc) then do a image and install it on another pc?

Something like norton ghost.

All machines are identical regarding hardware. It would save a lot of time for me.

Thanks in advance.

Akiria
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    Look into netboot https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/Netboot – Jos Jun 28 '18 at 06:36
  • See this answer on how to save and restore all installed packages and settings. Cloning the drive may not only take considerable time but it may also also lead to unwanted side effects from identical machine names, users, etc. – Takkat Jun 28 '18 at 07:44

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This sounds like a job for clonezilla

Clonezilla is a partition and disk imaging/cloning program similar to True Image® or Norton Ghost®. It helps you to do system deployment, bare metal backup and recovery. Two types of Clonezilla are available, Clonezilla live and Clonezilla SE (server edition). Clonezilla live is suitable for single machine backup and restore. While Clonezilla SE is for massive deployment, it can clone many (40 plus!) computers simultaneously. Clonezilla saves and restores only used blocks in the hard disk. This increases the clone efficiency. With some high-end hardware in a 42-node cluster, a multicast restoring at rate 8 GB/min was reported.

The documentation on the site is quite good and if you have ever used Norton Ghost you should have no problems using it.

Bruni
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    While this link may answer the question, it is better to include the essential parts of the answer here and provide the link for reference. Link-only answers can become invalid if the linked page changes. - From Review – M. Becerra Jun 28 '18 at 09:17
  • @M.Becerra I respectfully disagree. The essential part of the answer is use clonezilla to clone the drive. Anyway, here is some more info on the software. – Bruni Jun 28 '18 at 09:24
  • +1 for mentioning explicitly Clonezilla SE is for massive deployment. – sudodus Jun 28 '18 at 11:06
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I suggest that you make an Ubuntu OEM system, first a master system, and then clone it to the other computers.

See the following links (and links from them) for more details,

AskUbuntu link: Cloning; OEM setup

Ubuntu help wiki link: Ubuntu OEM Installation

sudodus
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