On 04/23/2009 02:19 AM, Ed Heron wrote:
- rdesktop ( the linux app) is really cool, as it allows you to
share/transfer local resources to the remote XP session (for instance you can map a local directory as a remote networked disk, without the hassle of passing via Network Neigh.). VNC forces you to either explicitly map such resources (hence you would also need something like samba on the linux side) or use scp.
Either way, I won't be having local resources. Trying to keep it simple.
Well, if you can implement a LTSP-like solution, good for you. In my case all users already had local linux workstations running C5, the XP was needed only for a couple of proprietary applications and for a limited period of time. The problem came from the fact that despite using what I call pretty decent hw, most of the users did not have hardware capable of doing full virt but we had to start the project really FAST ( The software supplier informed me that the proprietary applications cannot run on linux the very day the project started, despite doing 3 months of preparations for the project). Basically I had no choice but create VMs on a server with spare resources (which happened to be in another city than the users). Your use case is different :)
- the only problem with RDP is that by default Windows limits the number
of simultaneous connections. but patches do exist (which violate the licensing/usage terms, so beware).
I am interested in the multiple connections allowed with VNC for support type console sharing. When connected with RDP, the console of the VM has a login screen, so you can't use VNC to the console at the same time as a RDP connection...
It's not really like you describe it. With the proper patch, several different RDP users can share the VM, just as an 2003 server would do for more money. In our case, this was important because - at least in the beginning of the project - the number of simultaneous users exceeded the number of available VMs As of VNC sharing the console .. I am not sure what are you speaking about. As far as I know, VNC is quite reluctant to share a single desktop with several users, unless the connections are R/O. And in a LAN the speed is acceptable, but via remote links VNC quickly becomes "unpleasant". If you go the VNC way, I strongly suggest to examine NX instead.
As of implementations issues .. I had two (or should I say three?) problems:
- one is detailed in an older thread on this list ( look for "Using the
parallel port from domU", 02/02/2009).
My printers are all network printers, yay!
I have only networked printers, too, but in this case it was not about a printer but a hardware toy (ASIC development board).