1. 1 Inge Wallin Cendio AB (KDE e.V.) Thin Clients and the Linux Desktop

2. 2 Thin Clients: Introduction The desktop and applications are run on a server  The server is shared  The desktop computer – client – can be extremely thin  Saves money on administration, power and less need for investing in desktop computers This has proven to be the BEST way for migration from Windows to Linux  Easy to set up a Windows Terminal Server to serve Windows apps to the Linux desktop.

3. 3 Cendio: Introduction ThinLinc: the Linux Terminal Server  Lets the user run a remote Linux desktop as described above Some facts  > 40 000 users in Sweden, Brazil, Spain, Denmark  Looking to move out into Europe now  Good performance  Two level load balancing  Integrates with everything (Windows, Novell,...)

4. 4 ThinLinc: Introduction

5. 5 Dependencies/Interoperability Not tied to any Linux distribution Builds on a lot of open source components  TightVNC (X.org)- KDE/Gnome  Rdesktop- OpenSSH  Many more (Not Open Source (right now) ) Cendio is a big contributor on many OSS projects  Rdesktop, VNC, Seamless windows for RDP, etc

6. 6 Challenges (1) Differences in model between Thin/Fat clients  Shared machine: the HAL/DBUS model breaks down  The hardware events in the session should come from the client, not the server.  Vice versa: the hardware events from the server should be ignored. Freedesktop.org standards need be enhanced  I already have a commitment from KDE for this. Gnome?

7. 7 Challenges (2) A problem with Linux for pay distributions  Supported distributions are stable and old  Unsupported distributions are modern but unstable Thin Client servers need supported and with a modern desktop.  This is a new product for the distributions Supported, stable, but with a modern desktop  It is severely needed – the customers want this!