[GRLUG] Thin clients

[Michael Mol]

On Mon, Aug 23, 2010 at 8:43 AM, Adam Tauno Williams
<awilliam at whitemice.org> wrote:
> On Mon, 2010-08-23 at 08:34 -0400, Michael Mol wrote:
>> Wow...This thing would be *awesome* as a thin client:
>> http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/01/a_pc_the_size_o.php
>
> But, like all thin-clients, it will cost more than a PC [while offering
> fewer features] and thus be essentially irrelevant in the market-place.

I don't know. I've got one really, really beefy box in the house
(Phenom 9650 with 8GB of RAM--two years old, and it's still more beef
than I can tax), but most of my use of it tends to be via X11
forwarding to my laptop from another room, making it a de-facto
terminal server. Having a 5W device for such strikes me as sensible.
I've occasionally wished I had a terminal each in my living room and
visible from the kitchen.

>
> It is a neat idea (like a lot of this stuff) and a cool device.  But I'd
> never buy one [and you'd have to buy two - as there is certainly no
> fixing that thing if it has issues - return to more-expensive-than-PC
> meme].  Which is sad,  thin-clients *could* be a real win.

*sigh*

Yeah. For an unrepairable device to be useful, even as a terminal, it
would have to be cheap enough to be disposable. Old PCs don't quite
fit the bill, because for all that good one does saving a P6-200 from
the garbage, it's still powered by a 300W power supply.

>
>> Windows RDP supports attaching remote USB and audio to the user's
>> desktop session. My familiarity with X11 forwarding is limited to
>> graphical and UI. PulseAudio could manage to tie in audio, but I don't
>> know what could flexibly tie in USB flash drives.
>> Has anybody here dug into thin clients to that extent?
>
> I'm pretty sure the LTSP project solved that issue awhile ago.  I used
> to use LTSP and remote devices worked pretty well.

Good to know.

-- 
:wq

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