[OpenIndiana-discuss] Vnc to mimic SunRay behaviour, how??

[DormitionSkete@hotmail.com]

Dear Mr. Albertsson,

I'm not sure you understand what LTSP is.  It's basically an xorg (or whatever) connection into the server, along with goodies like the ability to use USB sticks, printers, scanners, and some other devices, including SCSI, Serial, and Parallel port devices, on the workstations.

The thin clients don't need a hard disk at all.  All they need is a good network card, a good video card, and as much RAM as you can put in them.  A reasonably decent processor helps, too.  A Pentium III is ok, but anything better than that is much better.

The thin client loads a boot image using PXE or Etherboot.  It uses FUSE to attach certain of its file systems to the server so you are actually accessing the server's /usr, /home, and whatever other directories.  You are accessing the software and user directories on the server, not the client's boot image.  The client's boot image gives it just enough to attach to the server.

With the most basic setup, the server does all the processing.  The thin client only needs enough of a processor to draw the screen, and operate the mouse, keyboard, and manage any USB connections you might have.  (more or less)

If your thin-clients have some decent power, you can set up local applications on them, so the application uses the thin client's processor instead of the server's.  That's supposed to be especially helpful for "heavy" applications like Firefox, but I've never actually done that.  It's not supposed to be difficult, though.  I've just never found it all that necessary.

Because this is basically an "x" connection, video is kind of weak.  Video is very network intensive, so videos tend to skip a bit on the thin clients.  This could probably be remedied by setting up the video applications to be local applications, but I'm not sure.  You could ask on their list, and the people there will be happy to help you.  They are a very friendly group of people.  



On Feb 28, 2013, at 4:28 AM, Hans J. Albertsson wrote:

> I'm not sure about this: we're not a regular workplace or a tight-knit community in any other way, we're a disparate bunch and if we want to go with a non-SunRay solution we want the advantages of having a good PC on the desk, for playing HD video and possibly simulations.
> 
> 
> Are there LTSP clients that can run as applications in an ordinary PC under linux or windows? Or OSX, of course.
> 

I'm not sure what you mean here.  You could use NX or VNC on a PC to connect to the LTSP server, so you'd have the same user experience with either an LTSP thin client or a PC with NX/VNC.


> Also, how good is the support for things like graphics accelerators over an LTSP? I'd live to be able to use one to play videos at 1080p/60
> 


Like I said, videos will be a bit of a challenge for you, but might be do-able without a lot of grief.



> On 2013-02-27 22:17, DormitionSkete at hotmail.com wrote:
>> Would something like the "Linux Terminal Server Project" be helpful to you?
>> 
>> http://www.ltsp.org/
>> 
>> Theoretically, it should be possible to set something like this up in OpenIndiana, although I think you'd have a lot better user experience with Linux desktops.
> I suppose you're talking about the server running linux and serving up linux desktops, here??
> 
> Sorry, but the thing is to serve up a Solaris-like environment. There are involved reasons for this, right now. That will change in the not too distant future. I need to find a route thru the next 5 years or so, no more.
> 

No, actually, you should be able to set up LTSP on OpenIndiana, so your users are connecting into the OI server, and using it as their desktop solution.  You should not have to have a Linux sever at all to implement it. OI's Gnome implementation is a bit weak, though, as well as some of its desktop software, so with Linux being more current in its desktop area, you could save yourself a lot of trouble using Linux.  The setup and maintenance would be easier, for sure.

If I were you, I'd at least set up LTSP using Linux on a separate server someplace just to see how it works, before trying to implement it on OI.


LTSP is best for users who just need basic applications such as Firefox, OpenOffice, email, etc.  If you start getting into big applications that need a lot of power to run, you start experiencing more that you are not actually using a full-powered desktop machine -- you're using a lower power machine.

I wouldn't try to do video editing or large photo editing (like Gimp/Photoshop) projects on it.  Small photo editing projects, like what you'd do for website development, is fine.  

I've done a lot of Java development using Netbeans on thin clients, and it works fine.  Netbeans is pretty hungry.  I wouldn't want to try to use anything much bigger than it, though.

Oh, and I can't help but think that you might actually be able to use those SunRay clients as thin clients.  I don't know much about SunRay, but if they can PXE boot, or Etherboot an image, I would think you should be able to use them.  That'd be something worth asking on the LTSP list.

I hope this helps.

fp