Dumb Terminals

M

mrbobo

Gawd
Joined
Jan 28, 2003
Messages
843
At my work we have a unix server, running collection software. Everyone acceses it using a telnet session. Everyone has fairly decent PC's running XP but I don't see the need since all they are doing is using telnet. I'm looking for information on dumb terminals, and a reccommendation on which ones to get. I'm not 100% on how they work but it's my understanding that it's as simple as plugging a ethernet cable into the switch, and doing some configuring correct?

Thanks in advance.

-Bob
 
mrbobo said:
I'm not 100% on how they work but it's my understanding that it's as simple as plugging a ethernet cable into the switch, and doing some configuring correct?

Thanks in advance.

-Bob
Click to expand...

Well, thin clients would be satisfactory for the purpose you are considering them for, but they're not downright stupid simple to configure as it may seem.

First, it'd just be a thin box- video(onboard), mobo, ram, processor, nic(onboard) set to network boot. Either build them or buy them. Then you have to setup a server (either bootp or dhcp) for it to get its ip, default gateway, servers, and the OE. Then decide what operating environment you want to run on the machines. Popular environments but not all: XP Embedded, Embedded Linux, CE.Net.

Check out:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d.../html/pbconwindowsthinclientconfiguration.asp
for more information on the MS thin client configs.

Config Linux thin clients to a linux server
http://www.ltsp.org/ - Linux Terminal Server Project

And here's a digit-life.com article on thin clients
http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/ak-winterm-gp/

While thin clients seem easy to install on paper, there is almost as much work with thin clients as installing workstation infrastructure as far as configuration and deployment. The main reason for deploying thin clients is they are inexpensive as far as repairs, there is nothing on the box to exploit as there is no way to save anything to the local machine, and they are perfectly suited for low-performance usage. Basically, whatever you invest in a thin client solution basically will pay for itself as it doesn't consume much power and do not depreciate much as they aren't like a standard workstation, plus they're cheap. Did I mention cheap?

Good luck.
 
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