Omaha Linux Users Group October 2010 Thin Clients And Zero Clients

Thin Clients Definition: thin clients have an OS but rely heavily on some other computer (its server) to fulfill its traditional computational roles. thin clients have an OS but rely heavily on some other computer (its server) to fulfill its traditional computational roles.

Zero Clients Definition: No OS installed, boots from external ”device” while relying heavily on some other computer (its server) to fulfill its traditional computational roles.

Thin/Zero Clients ● Hardware ● Pano Logic ● HP ● Wyse

Thin Clients ● Software ● VMWare View ● Citrix XENDesktop ● OpenThinClient ● NoMachine NX ● By NO means comprehensive!

Pano Device ● Eagle Software Demo

HP Thin Clients ● / html / html / html ● Works with VMWare VDI and Citrix XENDesktop ● Support Citrix ICA and RDP ● $199-$399 ● Dual Monitor, USB connections

WYSE Thin Clients ● ● Grand-daddy of Thin Clients ● Will run VMWare, Citrix, and other interesting things: Wyse_ComparisonChart.pdf Wyse_ComparisonChart.pdf Wyse_ComparisonChart.pdf ● Some are dual video out ● How about a Wyse Laptop?? 8)

VMWare View ● ml ml ml ● Windows Desktops only ● Role-based administration and centralized desktop security policies ● Desktops are tied to users' identities and not devices ● Propietary Protocol (PcoIP) speeds communication between server/client *

* More info ● PCoIP is a proprietary protocol developed by Teradici. Many companies have partnered with Teradici VMware is just one of them. Dell, Hitachi, and 10Zig are some of the others who have solutions that use PCoIP.

Citrix XENDesktop ● ktop.html ktop.html ktop.html ● Windows Desktops only ● Up to 500 vritual shared ”Desktops” per server ● Supports client-side virtual desktops (small client on remote system)

Citrix XENDesktop ● Citrix® FlexCast™ ● Delivers the right type of virtual desktop, to any user, on any device ● Citrix® HDX™ ● Flash multimedia and applications, 3D graphics, webcams, audio, and branch office delivery, while using 90 percent less bandwidth

OpenThinClient.org ● Free Open Source ThinClient Solution (Did I mention Free??) ● Created by the levigo group dating back to 1999 ● Linux based operating system ● Comprehensive Java based management GUI and server component ● Server centralistic approach that minimises administrative work

OpenThinClient.org ● PXE-capable network interface and no local storage ● Written in Java so they will run on any OS that is supported by Sun Java 6 ● Thin Clients are green ● New thin client hardware weigh about 70% less than normal PCs even if the server is included and take about 80% less transportation volume ● Only need half of the energy a normal PC

OpenThinClient.org ● Supporting XenApp and XenDesktop and VMware View Open Client 4 ● Support for OpenLDAP ● SMB shares can be accessed via Nautilus ● Boot from local media and touchscreen devices ● Openoffice.org included ● Via, Nvidia, and ATI drivers included

NoMachine NX ● ”Enterprise-class solution for secure remote access, desktop virtualization, and hosted desktop deployment built around the self-designed and self- developed NX suite of components” ● Even works well over dial-up and 3G Sprint cards ● ”Transform any traditional desktop computing environment into a centrally managed, globally accessible, virtual desktop infrastructure”

NoMachine NX ● Uses SSH public-key encryption and 128 bit volatile random cookie generation ● 5 Versions: Free (2 connections) to Advanced Cluster Edition (thousands of connections) ● Supported Apps ● KDE ● GNOME ● FF ● More here: applications.php applications.phphttp:// applications.php

NoMachine NX ● Tunnels Linux multimedia channels ● When tested, worked very well ● Fairly easy to setup ● Quick logins, quick screen updates ● Some local companies running it

Some Others ● Software ● LTSP ● nComputing ● VNC ● X11 ● Hardware ● 10Zig

Closing ● Play with the Pano devices ● You SHOULD be looking at Desktop Virtualization!! ● Any questions??