XPe or CE on old P2 350s 64Mb RAM

[monkey_boy]

I want to use either CE or XPe on some old fat clients. How do I go about it, and which of the two is best to use? I don't mind paying for the licenses etc, and i *do* want to use a microsoft solution.

 

I've tried using thinstation and didn't like it at all, and can see it being a nightmare to rollout. I'm trialling a ChipPC with CE on it and it does *exactly* what I want it to, with no hassle at all, and its a dream to configure. I'd like the same out of these old machines too.

[djm968]

You can download XPE Evaluation Edition form here.

 

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=dacd1722-256b-48c5-91c1-af6062340efc&displaylang=en

[PeterW]

To build (and licence) your own XPe machines you need to buy the dev kit and sign a CLA agreement (about £1500). The minimum amount of licences I have ever bought were in packs of 100 for about £5600.

 

There is nothing wrong with downloading the eval kit and building 120 day eval images to play with.

[Geoff]

Also consider rom-o-matic.

 

http://rom-o-matic.net/

[CyberNerd]

I've tried using thinstation and didn't like it at all, and can see it being a nightmare to rollout

 

Honestly, rolling out a new thinstation to as many clients as you have is "select" "copy" "past" to the tftp directory - I don't see how it could be any easier.

[Geoff]

I guess monkey_boy doesn't know about or want to use TFTP booting.

[Ric_]

@monkey_boy: Purchasing the microsoft licenses and running it on power hungry PCs kind of defeats the point of a thin client solution - lowering the TCO. For similar cost to buying those licenses, you could buy HP t5125 terminals which come loaded with Linux and a HP GUI that behaves in the same way as the connection manager in WinCE (it even looks the same!). Altiris makes them a dream to roll out too.

[Norphy]

Presumably you don't want to use Thinstation because setting it up with the text files is a bit of a PITA? tbh, I agree and this is why I don't use it. However, don't give up on Linux based software entirely. 2x sponsor Thinstation (That is where I found out about them from) and they do a very nice thin client management console and OS. It boots from the network, presents everything in a nice, simple and easy to understand interface. As long as you're not using Citrix it doesn't cost anything and it works well. It's being improved all the time and is well worth looking at.

 

However, 64MB RAM is a tad on the lean side. You might want to look at increasing that a little. Even the Linux thin clients I have here (HP jobbies) come with 128MB.

[monkey_boy]

Thanks for all the replies. All of them have been helpful. A few responses, in no particular order i'm afraid...

 

How much is a XPe licence likely to be, based on the assumption of buying a max of 60 at a time?

 

I don't understand TFTP - it's a complete mystery to me other than basic copying files for upgrading firmware on our switches. the phrase "TFTP booting" is completely alien to me!

 

I'm a real microsoft whore i'm afraid, and at the moment I just don't "get" linux logic enough to be able to troubleshoot things intelligently- but i do want to learn, but in my own time rather than to the timeline of the academic year and all the troubles we get around this period.

 

@ric: If what you're saying is accurate and i've read it correctly (and to a point I hope that it is) then I will almost certainly be sticking with chip PCs offering for the phase of using thin clients, as I could not have asked for a better experience so far.

 

What I was essentially hoping for was a way to copy what I was getting on these chip PCs and being able to apply it to the existing equipment in this room that desperatly needs a refurb, but only have it cost say, £50 per workstation rather than the £150 it's going to cost for new terminals.

[Ric_]

OK... TFTP... think of it as a tiny FTP server (i.e. a server that just serves files for download).

 

The client boots and the DHCP server says, 'you can find a TFTP server at such an address, do you want to use it?'

 

If the client is configured to use a TFTP server (as it is with Thinstation and the like) it will look at said server where there is a config file that determines what files will be downloaded.

 

You then end up with an OS running in a kind of RAM-disk on the client. This includes a piece of software (e.g. an app called rdesktop) that connects to your terminal server and 'it just works'.

 

It's hard to explain how simple it is. I will PM you my number and try to point you in the right direction.

[Geoff]

Wikipedia also offers an overview in it's PXE article.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preboot_Execution_Environment

[PeterW]

How much is a XPe licence likely to be, based on the assumption of buying a max of 60 at a time?

 

XPe licences are purchased with hardware, the hardware manufacturer has an agreement with ms (CLA) which cost about £1500 to set up (includes your dev kit). Then I believe the liences they are purchase in packs of 10, 100, 1000 but I have only ever purchased packs of 100 so I cannot confirm the other pack sizes. The 100 pack of licences is £5600.

 

Are you familiar with XPe? Its not an install on OS, you have to build the OS with the target designer from Windows 10K + components. All your drivers and apps need to packaged using component designer.

 

XPe is typically purchased as part of a manufactured device.

[armadillo]

Thanks for all the replies. All of them have been helpful. A few responses, in no particular order i'm afraid...

 

How much is a XPe licence likely to be, based on the assumption of buying a max of 60 at a time?

 

I don't understand TFTP - it's a complete mystery to me other than basic copying files for upgrading firmware on our switches. the phrase "TFTP booting" is completely alien to me!

 

I'm a real microsoft whore i'm afraid, and at the moment I just don't "get" linux logic enough to be able to troubleshoot things intelligently- but i do want to learn, but in my own time rather than to the timeline of the academic year and all the troubles we get around this period.

 

@ric: If what you're saying is accurate and i've read it correctly (and to a point I hope that it is) then I will almost certainly be sticking with chip PCs offering for the phase of using thin clients, as I could not have asked for a better experience so far.

 

What I was essentially hoping for was a way to copy what I was getting on these chip PCs and being able to apply it to the existing equipment in this room that desperatly needs a refurb, but only have it cost say, £50 per workstation rather than the £150 it's going to cost for new terminals.

 

 

Hi monkey boy

 

Could you please let me know how did you go about getting Win CE and installing it?

Thanks

[Michael]

XPe will run on a P2 350MHz, but the 64MB of memory will have a big influence on speed. XPe ideally should have 256MB or more, which you should be able to run. It'll probably be SDRAM (most likely) what you'd be looking for.

[Butuz]

To be honest, instead of spending possibly up to £100 per client just on XPe licencing, and then ending up with old, unreliable, power hungry, and possibly slow (with 64mb ram) thin clients - I think you would be much better off plumping for some new Axel clients as they will not cost much more than your XPe licencing, can be managed through the Axel console interface, only use 6w of power (compared to 30-50w) are fanless noiseless and maintenance free, and have a shelf life of at least 10 years.

 

Thats my 2p anyway.

 

Butuz

[Axel]

Thanks Butuz,

 

Thewlis, if we can offer you an Axel tc to test please let us know. The M80f is significantly faster than "any" WinCE client, and having no operating system is even simpler to setup...

 

It would be great to send to one so you could do a comparison with your existing trial tc...

 

Matthew

Axel

0845 225 2822

[somabc]

Shouldn't you be using Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs