Scenario

50 identical 3 year old laptops, one customized image. This is for a small school, say, and the system is fully configured.

Every admin has an imaging technique he likes the best, what's yours?

Open source software is a plus, but I wouldn't mind hearing proprietary solutions.

The optimal solution would involve an idiot proof, bootable, single dvd. The image is around 3 gigs. Something a school teacher with a few tech skills could boot up and hit <enter>. It would be used for the initial installation and as a restore disk.

I'm researching using partimage and systemrescuecd. It has an autorun feature, like most bootable linux cd's, all the necessary tools, and a 122mb footprint. I've used these in the past to pull images over the lan with good results.

This is a pro bono job, btw, for a small rural school using donated equipment.

Ideas, suggestions, experiences?

Thanks