Matstones

One consideration regarding setup is type of thin-client. They are not all alike (like it could be said PCs are) There are four basic types all have various pros and cons. One thing to bear in mind - RPD & ICA clients require about 3Mb of memory. One of these two 'applications' is probably all the terminal will ever need to run. All "other" memory above this is being used for other non-essential uses... Linux based - Are you happy depending on support from open source community - Most would agree Linux is a robust O/S - but to attach to a terminal server you will need an RDP client. Microsoft have never released an RDP client for Linux, so should verify who will be responsible for new versions/improvements etc - Many people (mayby quite wrongly) would expect IE as a browser. You would not get IE on a Linux machine. Maybe Firefox is slowly being perceived as cooler! Windows CE Generally seen as a little "tired" and under powered these days Windows XP Strong powerful operating system - but has almost all the inherent support implications of PC's running XP - ie virus concerns, Microsoft updates. Also requires powerful hardware to do it justice - so is relatively expensive No Operating System or Ultra-Thin clients. These products run RDP/ICA direct from hardware - so avoid many of the "issues' above. Typically physically much smaller and faster to connect. An interesting side effect of having no operating system is there is almost no local admin, the only setting up is giving the device itself an IP address - and giving it the Server IP address.

Hi Andy, We can loan you some thin client hardware for testing/evaluation. Our hardware is 'thinner' than your 'bog standard' Windows/linux based PC type thin-client, as it has no operating system. This also reduces cost and increases perfromance..... They are also significantly smaller (cigarette packet sized) and mount on rear of TFT monitor for convenience... If you have a Windows/Citrix server to connect to, let me know and I can ship a couple up to you for testing.... [email protected]

There is a neat and elegant solution to this - depending what hardware you use. I apologise for touting Axel products - but I have had a number of positive responses to other comments I have made - so here's one more.... Axel provide free of charge a small program that can be installed on a Citrix/terminal server called Axmenu. In the terminal's configuration it is configured to auto-run this program on connection. (The same program can also be auto-configured to run in the user's profile - so can be run per device or per user). This program Axmenu gives a "pseudo" desktop that the administrator controls on a per user or per group basis what applications individuals users have access to. The users can only run these applications which can be displayed as a menu or in the normal start button. All other features are removed from this desktop. The manager can with a few clicks add or remove a browser (or any other application) thus removing it for all users in a given group. Full documentation for this free software is on the link below - it is free but only works for Axel terminals: http://www.axel.com/uk2/prod_axmenu.html?mv2_pos=1 http://[img]http://http://www.axel.com/uk2/img/axmenu.jpg

Hi Fafster, Thank you for your email. The first point to make is there is very little setting up for an Axel terminal as there is no operating system. The only setting up is to provide an IP address or enable DHCP select RDP or ICA - if ICA select published application. - if RDP provide server IP address That's it - less than 30 seconds per terminal. Once one terminal is setup you can use our s/w to take a snapshot of the config To use the 'auto-configuration' the "tricky" part is for the 'virgin' thin-client to find 'your' PC - ie the PC running the management software. To achieve this we use one of three techniques. 1) We document how to modify the DHCP server to also send the IP of the "management PC" in a vendor ID field - but as you say this is no good for you... 2) We resolve a specific DNS name. You would either give your PC this "hardwired" name - or more likely give it as an alias 3) we assume the management s/w is running on the same machine as the DHCP server. The virgin termial cycles through these three methods until one works. Of course at any time you can press a key on the keyboard and set up manually. Once the terminal has located the management software it is a simple matter for the config file to be transfered across. To take it one step further you can configre different terminals to grab different config files. There are other clever things the s/w can do - but I have probably rattled on long enough here.... Hi Mat, I saw your reply to Geoff on the forum, and thought I'd check out Axel.com. Due to restrictions by the local authority (they manage the network infrastructure and servers) we can't modify the existing DHCP server to add tftp details to it. Do we have any options in this instance? For example, can the clients be configured centrally to get an image from a tftp server without havnig to get those details from DHCP? We're definitely thinking of going down this route, and any information would be greatly appreciated. A pricelist would be great, too, as then we can work out where we stand with regards to budget.

Geoff, Can we send you one of our thin clients to try along side it.... Our products are unique in that they have no operating system at all (so almost no setup). We have taken the RDP/ICA client, re-written in assembly language - and loaded the code directly into the hardware, the terminal is the size of a cigarette packet and instant booting. It comes with a VESA mounting bracket to fit to rear of monitor - so take up zero desk space... If we can send you a no obligation eval unit please whizz me an email at [email protected] and I can get one shipped out today....

...the post was about Neoware hardware - which was in fact not even manufactured or designed by Neoware (it was made by http://www.bcom.com). It is hard to see what HP would want with competing and "duplicate" hardware to their own....

Have you upgraded your terminal servers... If you have Linux based thin clients the open source RDP client in your thin-clients may no longer be 100% compatible with the servers

Neoware went bust - HP bought up the "remains" to gain access to installed customer base. As HP have their own TC products it should be safe to assume HP will phase out Neoware hardware as soon as they can, without "panicing" the Neoware user-base...