Linux as a Workstation instead of server

I am in the process of studying how Linux can be setup for a similar client/server interaction as windows, mainly user authentication.

In win-world the interaction is that at the client, the user logs into the server and gets permissions etc from there. they can then use the client and access server resources.

I would like to do something similar with Linux. using a central server for user authentication and permissions. and (possibly) using that for mapping samba shares, NSF Shares,Unix/Samba printers etc.

I'm not sure if this is possible with linux, I would like to try for it though.

try www.ltsp.org The Linux Terminal Server project allows you to have one server and use old PCs (even 486s) as clients. There is only one rig to administer and the terminals don't need to be powerfull.

With linux, each user has their own folder (the home directory) which is usually on the local machine. However this can be set up so that the home dir is on an NFS volume, which I am told is not very good.

What sort of situation will you be using it in? If you are using it in a school or office for word processing and internet, a resonably powerfull server (dual AthlonMP 1.5GHz, 512MB DDR SDRAM, a couple 36GB U2W SCSI HDDS, etc) with any old clients (with a decent display (800x600?)) will do fine. If you want 3D games then I'm not sure.

I'm assuming the clients also will use linux, if not then use Samba.