Mailing List Archive

Antoine wrote:

>Hi,
>We are going to be installing some thin clients at work, probably
>about 10 or so, and I want to push to run them off a linux (hopefully
>Gentoo) server. They will ONLY be running 1 custom app (maybe 2 to 3
>others later, but still 10-15 thin clients), which will be pretty
>small, and pretty resource light. The app is in VB6, but I have great
>hopes for getting it to run under wine, as it is pretty basic, and
>only needs odbc and a couple of custom activex's.
>So the thing is that I read somewhere some random comment about
>needing 4 gig of ram or something... clearly random because that is
>going to vary enormously. So what sort of range do people think would
>be reasonable (I am going to have to sell this to the very M$-oriented
>guys at work...) for memory? Will this need a special kernel?
>Most of the day it will be pretty underused but around 8:00 and 16:30
>there will be 10-12 people logged in all doing some pretty serious db
>querying (we may be able to get a 1gig line to the db if necessary,
>cos things need to be lightning quick). Nothing fancy though, just
>basic db access stuff. What sort of processor could we get away with
>if running gentoo?
>Any input welcome
>Cheers
>Antoine
>
>
Usually 1gb of ram would be plenty for only 12 thin clients. I would
also focus on hdd and cooling as well. I only have 4 thin clients that
run apps locally and are pretty fast system in their own rights and it
really heats up hdd. Might be a little different if apps are run only on
server but wine won't run on thin client as a local app because wine
won't run as root but if someone logged into the server it shouldn't be
a problem. The only special kernel that is required is the one for the
clients they need a kernel with nfs-root patch last I heard 2.4.25 was
the newest available

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Antoine wrote:

> We are going to be installing some thin clients at work, probably
> about 10 or so, and I want to push to run them off a linux (hopefully
> Gentoo) server. They will ONLY be running 1 custom app (maybe 2 to 3
> others later, but still 10-15 thin clients), which will be pretty

I'm doing the same thing, but I'm using a custom Knoppix CD to boot via
CD-ROM that in turns tells the clients to load a config based on the
mac-address. After they log in, ssh forwarding is setup, a minimal X is
started, vncserver is started on the server, and the viewer is launched
on the client, with the connection going over the ssh tunnel.

This allows for a fully encrypted link between the client and server,
and also allows for easy off-network access (Use this CD to boot from
your home computer, and then log in as normal to view your desktop at work).

I have 10 users on the system: a dual opteron 242 with 2 gigs of ram.
I'm using the ck-sources and it works great. Currently, it's a slow day,
and 1.5 gigs are used with .5 being used as disk cache and 41 megs
swapped. All desktops are using KDE 3.3.0, driven by tightvnc server
4.0. Everyone uses openoffice, thunderbird, firefox, views pdf's with
xpdf, and a few specialized java applications for our industry.

I could use an extra gig of ram, and get better disk performance, but
I'm not sweating it at the moment.

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On Tue, 2004-10-05 at 01:30, Billy wrote:
>
> I'm doing the same thing, but I'm using a custom Knoppix CD to boot via
> CD-ROM that in turns tells the clients to load a config based on the
> mac-address. After they log in, ssh forwarding is setup, a minimal X is
> started, vncserver is started on the server, and the viewer is launched
> on the client, with the connection going over the ssh tunnel.
Cool But why vncserver? I've not have much success with vnc interms of
refresh rates. It's kinda slow even when running on a 100Mbit Lan from
PC to PC. (eg: Linux to XP desktop)

Maybe it's a different thing??

>
> This allows for a fully encrypted link between the client and server,
> and also allows for easy off-network access (Use this CD to boot from
> your home computer, and then log in as normal to view your desktop at work).
>
even Better...

> I have 10 users on the system: a dual opteron 242 with 2 gigs of ram.
> I'm using the ck-sources and it works great. Currently, it's a slow day,
> and 1.5 gigs are used with .5 being used as disk cache and 41 megs
> swapped. All desktops are using KDE 3.3.0, driven by tightvnc server
> 4.0. Everyone uses openoffice, thunderbird, firefox, views pdf's with
> xpdf, and a few specialized java applications for our industry.

Those muscles are only needed because you're doing thin clients. I on
the other hand, just wants remote control (as I'm too broke to get a kvm
switch)


--
Ow Mun Heng
Fedora GNU/Linux Core 2 on D600 1.4Ghz CPU kernel
2.6.7-2.jul1-interactive
Neuromancer 09:46:33 up 1:14, 8 users, load average: 2.30, 2.81, 2.30

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Ow Mun Heng wrote:

> Cool But why vncserver? I've not have much success with vnc interms of
> refresh rates. It's kinda slow even when running on a 100Mbit Lan from
> PC to PC. (eg: Linux to XP desktop)

Actually, you need to use vnc/tightvnc 4.0. It's worlds better than
lesser versions. It's ~masked under x86.

4.0 has auto negotiation, which means it'll pick the right encoding for
the network environment. I've ran vnc over a ~11mbs wireless, and it's
been snappy. Under ~100mbs, it's indistinguishable (under normal tasks)
from local X.

In fact, vnc 4.0 is probably snappier in some instances than regular X
forwarding - especial those that perform lots of bitmap and widget
updates (mozilla, thunderbird, firefox).

One of the reasons for doing regular X forwarding is in KDE, you can
redirect aRTS to the local box.

>>your home computer, and then log in as normal to view your desktop at work).
> even Better...

vnc allows remote access much easier than X forwarding. If your server
is behind DSL or cable, X forwarding is painfully slow. You have to
realize that most aDSL and cable has more download speed than upload.
You're lucky if you have more than 256kb in upload bandwidth.

>>I have 10 users on the system: a dual opteron 242 with 2 gigs of ram.
> Those muscles are only needed because you're doing thin clients. I on
> the other hand, just wants remote control (as I'm too broke to get a kvm
> switch)

xorg includes support for vnc on display :0

You just need to add this to your xorg.conf

Option "passwordFile" "/path/to/vnc/passwd"

It's slower than what is produced from a real vncserver, and I suppose
that's because the vnc library on display :0 is working on the actual
frame buffer/video image rather than X11 objects - but that's just my
observation and opinion.

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On Tue, 2004-10-05 at 09:58, Billy wrote:
> Ow Mun Heng wrote:
>
> > Cool But why vncserver? I've not have much success with vnc interms of
> > refresh rates. It's kinda slow even when running on a 100Mbit Lan from
> > PC to PC. (eg: Linux to XP desktop)
>
> Actually, you need to use vnc/tightvnc 4.0. It's worlds better than
> lesser versions. It's ~masked under x86.

Tightvnc? Okay.. I've been using WinVNC on windows box and plain vnc on
my Fc2 box. (don't boo me, I'm a gentoo newbie who just started since
last monday from stage 1 and I'm nearly through.. just a few more
compiles.. -> Openoffice (which gives error 65280 and gdesklets, which
can't load the displays and frozen-bubble)

>
> 4.0 has auto negotiation, which means it'll pick the right encoding for
> the network environment. I've ran vnc over a ~11mbs wireless, and it's
> been snappy. Under ~100mbs, it's indistinguishable (under normal tasks)
> from local X.
I've even tried using depth=8 or something in that sense. No Joy

> In fact, vnc 4.0 is probably snappier in some instances than regular X
> forwarding - especial those that perform lots of bitmap and widget
> updates (mozilla, thunderbird, firefox).

I'm just thinking of doing LSTP/vnc cos of all the viruses in the wild.
Best way to get the "The one whom must be obeyed" to use Linux and not
give me headaches with viruses.

> One of the reasons for doing regular X forwarding is in KDE, you can
> redirect aRTS to the local box.
Is aRTS the only one? I don't use KDE.

> >>your home computer, and then log in as normal to view your desktop at work).
> > even Better...
>
> vnc allows remote access much easier than X forwarding. If your server
> is behind DSL or cable, X forwarding is painfully slow. You have to
> realize that most aDSL and cable has more download speed than upload.
> You're lucky if you have more than 256kb in upload bandwidth.
>
> >>I have 10 users on the system: a dual opteron 242 with 2 gigs of ram.
> > Those muscles are only needed because you're doing thin clients. I on
> > the other hand, just wants remote control (as I'm too broke to get a kvm
> > switch)
>
> xorg includes support for vnc on display :0
>
> You just need to add this to your xorg.conf
>
> Option "passwordFile" "/path/to/vnc/passwd"
>
This is cool info.



--
Ow Mun Heng
Fedora GNU/Linux Core 2 on D600 1.4Ghz CPU kernel
2.6.7-2.jul1-interactive
Neuromancer 10:11:41 up 1:39, 6 users, load average: 2.94, 2.75, 2.58

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On Tue, 05 Oct 2004 10:15:21 +0800, Ow Mun Heng <ow.mun.heng@wdc.com> wrote:

> I'm a gentoo newbie who just started since
> last monday from stage 1 and I'm nearly through.. just a few more
> compiles.. -> Openoffice (which gives error 65280 and gdesklets, which
> can't load the displays and frozen-bubble)
>

A little <OT> here, but I've been using gentoo for years, and I never
use anything but the openoffice-bin ebuilds. Yeah, I know "real men
compile openoffice", but I've got better things to do than that.

--
/\/\
(CR) Collins Richey
\/\/ "I hear you're single again." "Spouse 2.0 had fewer bugs than
Spouse 1.0, but the maintenance ... was too much for my OS."
- Glitch (tm)

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On Tue, 2004-10-05 at 11:18, Collins Richey wrote:
> On Tue, 05 Oct 2004 10:15:21 +0800, Ow Mun Heng <ow.mun.heng@wdc.com> wrote:
>
> > I'm a gentoo newbie who just started since
> > last monday from stage 1 and I'm nearly through.. just a few more
> > compiles.. -> Openoffice (which gives error 65280 and gdesklets, which
> > can't load the displays and frozen-bubble)
> >
>
> A little <OT> here, but I've been using gentoo for years, and I never
> use anything but the openoffice-bin ebuilds. Yeah, I know "real men
> compile openoffice", but I've got better things to do than that.
Well.. given the circumstance of things, I might be going that path
anyway.. I've already downloaded the bin version and I guess will be
emergeing it soon.



--
Ow Mun Heng
Fedora GNU/Linux Core 2 on D600 1.4Ghz CPU kernel
2.6.7-2.jul1-interactive
Neuromancer 11:25:37 up 2:53, 7 users, load average: 1.64, 1.46, 1.35

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Ow Mun Heng wrote:

> I'm just thinking of doing LSTP/vnc cos of all the viruses in the wild.
> Best way to get the "The one whom must be obeyed" to use Linux and not
> give me headaches with viruses.

One of the reasons I didn't like LTSP is that none of the connections
are secure. It's all open NFS and open x-forwarding.

> Is aRTS the only one? I don't use KDE.

I don't use Gnome, so aRTS is all I know about.


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