Smallest/Fastest OS to use for Aging PC(dumb terminal) question

[Joshuatybourn]

Situation: I am attempting to do a test installation for VDI. I would like to use ACE for encryption and I like the cost. I want to use the Free VMware Server, as I am familiar with it, and I like the cost. ;>) When we go to production, I might advocate for upgrade to ESX, we'll see.

I have a decent machine to use for test server piece. Dual xeon 3.0 ghz, 1 gig ram (going to up this to 2 shortly, but 1 will do for test with single workstation)

Single workstation is aging pc, Celeron 2 ghz, 256 megs ram, 10/100 nic (willing to upgrade to gig card), , switch and server are wired gig ethernet.

Question: I want the user of this workstation to never interact with the workstation OS. I want the workstation to POST, boot some small OS, go right into the VM, and give them a full featured XP environment.

1. I want the user to have access to printers, but I can hang these off the server.

2. I want the users home directory to be remote from the workstation, so I think I can use folder redirection to a NAS box for this. I love this, as it makes backup/restore so much easier.

3. I don't need high end video (massiv 3d for gaming) or multiple monitors, but being able to watch the video equivalent of Youtube would be good.

OK, so here's the question. What is the smallest OS I can use on the workstation? Small=fast boot, can access appropriate hardware (nic, ideo card, etc.), smallest license cost, etc. Being able to use RDP would be great, as I am very comfortable with it, but I have a passing familiarity with Linux.

If this question has been answered before, I apologize, and ask for someone to point me to the answer. I am new to VDI, and I did go through like 8 pages of questions, and multiple searches, so I wouldn't have to bother anyone.

Thank you in advance, and you will receive my undying gratitude.

Joshua

[sgrinker]

Joshua

Just to clarify here... are you looking to take an old PC workstation and configure it to be a Fat/Thin Client, or are you just asking for the smallest OS in general?

I think the answer in either case for the smallest and fastest is going to be some form of Linux. Which one depends on a lot of things though. If you are talking purely in the Thin Client world, Wyse does have a very slimmed down proprietary OS called Wyse Thin Client Operating System WTOS. That of course means that you would have to use one of their devices, but it does boot within seconds typically. As far as offering any suggestions as to the best flavor of linux of an old workstation, I'll leave that up to someone else. I haven't actually done any testing in that regard so I couldn't make any good recomendations.

Thanks

Steve

[Joshuatybourn]

Totally legit question. I want to use the aging workstation for a dumb terminal. This is how I want to roll it out, so I want to test it appropriately.

I might go to thin clients, but I don't know. I'm currently reading the posts in the forum about these different devices, and checking prices, performance, etc. That would be another question. For right now, I want to see if I can do it with existing PC's.

Thanks

Joshua

[williambishop]

thinstation, look for it at sourceforge. Better yet do a google search and you'll hit their web site. It lets you build a bootable cd or an hard drive set of files boots into a session(RDP if you like) and lets you rock on.

[mreferre · Accepted solution]

On top of that you might also check out these two:

http://www.emboot.com/products_simplyRDP.htm (fee based)

http://www.2x.com/pxes/ (fee / free based depending on the feature you want).

Both allows you to create a server on the network that allows you to PXE boot a very thin linux image which basically allows you to open an rdp connection to an XP in the back.

I have never used the simplyRDP product but I have used the 2X .... and I like it.

Check the last column on the right of this table:

http://www.it20.info/misc/brokers.htm

Massimo.

P.S. you mentioned ACE .... but that' a typo right? ACE allows you to run an XP virtual machine ON THE DESKTOP ..... you are running the XP in the back ...... which is VDI ... not ACE.

[admin]

your question is a little confusing. If you want to convert the PC into a thin as possible VDI client where you connect to hosted XP/Vista desktops go with the approaches already recommended.

If you want to strip down the PC's and run and ACE instances there are a couple of approaches.

Build an embedded base for your environment, I would recommend SLAX it's modular and you can add hardware modules if needed. Its also easier to upgrade as you would end up creating a VMware ACE Player module.

Just build a stripped down centos or ubuntu with enough to run player and write some startup scripts to auto start it at startup.

Its going to be a project though.

[kbk00]

I would give a pretty big thumbs up for the Wyse clients. I'm typing this post via a VDI session using the V30 from Wyse with the Wyse OS. It's very, very fast. I can't tell that I'm on a remote XP session. However, that's with day-to-day business functions. What doesn't work:

-Audio (skips some)

-Video (same)

As I understand it, Wyse and VMware are looking at technology that will bring the multimedia performance up to a fantastic level where high bandwidth applications work well in an RDP session. Only time will tell but I'm hoping they can release something soon.

Baring, that, the performance is great for 95 percent of users, imo.

[sgrinker]

Ken

Just thought I'd send a quick response on the video streaming for Wyse. They should be releasing the new devices sometime early next week from what our rep told us the other week. Then again, I think we have the same rep.

If you're interested I've posted some more about what we saw on the demo of the new devices in the following thread.

http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?threadID=78272&tstart=0

Thanks

Steve

[davlloyd]

Just thought I'd send a quick response on the video

streaming for Wyse. They should be releasing the new

devices sometime early next week from what our rep

told us the other week. Then again, I think we have

the same rep.

They have not coupled this with the new releases and are not expecting to release it until June.

[sgrinker]

They have not coupled this with the new releases and

are not expecting to release it until June.

Just confirming I heard the same message yesterday from our rep as well. It did sound like they "might" have a Beta available in the next few weeks though... for what it's worth.