[CentOS] Thin client system for X applications?

Les Mikesell lesmikesell at gmail.com
Tue Jun 1 20:01:41 UTC 2010


On 6/1/2010 2:34 PM, Jim Davis wrote:
> We're looking for what, years ago, I'd describe a s a X terminal --
> something small, simple (and ideally cheap) that a user could display
> X applications on.  I guess they're now called thin clients, but they
> now seem geared as seats on the web, and for this application we would
> need to be able display the results of running a homebrewed X
> application from a CentOS system, either through xdm, or ssh with X
> forwarding, or vnc.   Running CentOS too on the thin client would be
> nice, but not a requirement.  The HP t5545 looks right for size and
> price, but I can't tell if it could support displaying arbitrary X
> apps.

If you don't care about size or power consumption you should be able to 
pull the hard drive out of just about any old PC and PXE-boot it with 
LTSP, giving you an xdm login.   A few years ago I would have 
recommended the k12ltsp el5 distro (centos + ltsp + some other odds and 
ends already packaged so it comes up working out of the box) but it is 
sort of dated now - although it still is usable if you want ltsp4 which 
supports some older devices.  Google shows evidence of t5545's working 
in that environment.   More current work is with ltsp5 on fedora or ubuntu.

But, if you are intending this as a 2nd terminal for people who already 
have a windows or mac box on their desk, you might try freenx on the 
server, connecting with the NX client from http://www.nomachine.com.  It 
works pretty well running on a 2nd monitor of a windows box, giving the 
effect of a 2nd machine but with cut/paste working between them.


-- 
   Les Mikesell
    lesmikesell at gmail.com



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