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Reply With Quotedarkmanx (15th October 2009)
Hi there
We had a trial of around 20 thin client units in to test to see if they could be used in the college. They are vavrious types HP, Wyse,Jack PC with various OS's linux, xpe etc. Basically the trial was deemed unsuccessful as the students could not use streaming media sites such as you tube etc and people could not log on to them as they had to click on the RDP icon first before logging on! Even though the same people were using the room week in week out. We were not really allowed any additonal money to get additonal software to improve the multimedia aspect of things.
So we now have these thin clients in a cupboard doing nothing and I'm wanting to look at other uses for them. The things I have thought of so far are;
internet stations
library search pods
information screens
visitor staions.
Can anyone think of any other uses for them that I have missed? (they cant go back in as machines to be fully used by students for day to day tasks or I'm afraid in admin offices etc) Also as ever money is tight so using what we have is essential.
Thanks!
Why cant you use these in your Admin offices? They are perfect for this role!
We use lots of thin clients around the school for students, faculty offices and admin. We use 2x ThinClientServer to present a login screen (overwrite the onboard linux/xpe OS) to the users and depending on who they are they get tunneled to the appropriate server(s). Its fairly cheap so you might want to look at it as it does a great job here though it won't help in your multimedia issues in any way as it still depends on RDP and its limitations.
If you have to stick with the onboard os, most thin clients I have used be it linux or xpe allow you to auto start a connection when they boot up, did you look into that?
Sure, thin client can't do everything but surely they can be used for students research, basic tasks such as Office, email or use in the library like you suggest.. if they want to stream video full screen then they can go elsewhere use a standard XP machine (or whatever you use).
PS- if you can't think of anything to do with these in the end then put them in a box and send them over to me Im sure I ll find a use for them
Last edited by ssiruuk2; 15th October 2009 at 12:24 PM.
darkmanx (15th October 2009)
Were the multimedia issues with Server 2003 or Server 2008 RDP?
it was server 2003, just testing server 2008 for other services so i guess i could try 2008 when im testing these, has there been improvements?
We did have all the ones we could autostart an rdp connection and they were fine, the others where we couldn't we left very clear instructions on the walls on how to connect but (mainly teachers, most students were ok) could not do it.
i agree they are perfect solutions for admin offices but as management were informed by people of the "issues" etc they dont want to know.
nice idea for research machines as they were absolutely fine for general web browsing/office apps
I'm not using it yet but by all accounts RDP under 2008 is greatly improved. I'm not sure if this includes RDP but I know Citrix ICA uses codec offloading to the thin client if you use Win CE/Embedded terminals and this improved multimedia performance, I've seen HD video playing flawlessly.it was server 2003, just testing server 2008 for other services so i guess i could try 2008 when im testing these, has there been improvements?
darkmanx (15th October 2009)
cheers i'll give 2008 a go, i'll have a good read up on it and citrix solution also. I didn't have anything to do with the original trial at all so will be good to have a dabble with something new and hopefully get some use out of them. seems silly them being sat doing nothing
I notice the assortment of thin clients, however have you tried the Sun Ray option? With the Sun Rays, and the Sun Multimedia Redirector which installs on the host machine, we've yet to see any streaming problems. the Sun MMR is part of the Sun Ray Server Software as well, and users won't need to login, just plug their smartcards in and their desktop is shown.
ahuxham how much do Sun Ray clients cost?
Last quoted £166 per unit, which includes a right to use license for SRSS.Originally Posted by cookie_monster
That's pretty reasonable do you have to buy a server licence as well or does all that come with the hardware purchace?
@darkmanx;
You could donate them to us hehe!!!
webman (15th October 2009)
Door-stops?
With the hardware, the right-to-use license is attached per terminal you purchase, so apart from the Terminals there is no cost.
You'd have either a supported linux os or Solaris running Sun Ray Server Software, your terminals than connect to the SRSS software and get told where to go for their machines, in our case, via smartcards and a metakiosk script. We use Solaris trunking into an ESXI box running x number of machines.
For example my card has payflex.990435032759 and is assigned to UTTSC alex.huxham IP_ADDRESS, so whatever terminal my card goes in, I go to my same desktop, which in itself is a very nifty feature, added SRSS has so many features, as do the terminals, built in VPN and the likes
....and you have to introduce a Sun Server, as a gateway, to the Windows environment, and that needs to ideally be duplicated - else it is a single point of failure for all the terminals. It seems this point is sometimes glossed over when the cost of Sunrays are discussed....?
How much does this server cost...?
I remember reading in another thread that there were some downsides couldn't remember the details though.....and you have to introduce a Sun Server, as a gateway, to the Windows environment, and that needs to ideally be duplicated - else it is a single point of failure for all the terminals. It seems this point is sometimes glossed over when the cost of Sunrays are discussed....?
How much does this server cost...?
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