Zero client laptop

[dimeboy_99]

Has anyone repurposed Dell or HP laptops into zero clients? The intent is to use existing laptops but remove the OS on the laptop and strictly use the VDI provided laptop image for a training environment and reduce overall administration costs, patches, update software issues, etc.

[Ray_handels]

Hey dimeboy,

We are looking at the exact same thing.

There is one PCoIP Laptop namely the Cirrus LT | NCS Technologies, Inc.

We are also testing with the IGEL UDC client which works like a charm but is somewhat expensive. This can be installed on any machine but we did indeed test with a DELL laptop.

The thing that is most important for us is how long the battery can be used. If you have any devices you can recommend, please let me know Very interested in that info.

[sappomannoz]

Hi,

I went with the Acer CloudBook 14". Shitty resolution but up to 10 hours of tested battery life. Also solid state drive and 801.ac. Ideal cheap laptop for students.

We are lending them in our library.

Cristiano

[Ray_handels]

Hey Cristiano,

I also recommended that device here but it seems to be a consumer model and we can't easily use those due to certain constraints. And that's what we are also looking at, trying to push out 10 hours of battery life.

Nice to see it in real life, thanks for the photo's .

And how many devices do you have in total??

[dimeboy_99]

Great solutions by all and thanks so much for the ideas. I was wondering if there was a way to use existing Dell or HP laptops and save some money by repurposing the existing equipment? I recommended buying a zero client but the question I get asked every time is why can't we use what we have? It would seem like there is a way to use something along the lines of a PXE-Boot with network access to boot straight to a VM desktop based off a server solution. Something like a live CD/DVD that keeps an os off the laptop hard drive. Is this not possible?

[sappomannoz]

Hi,

from my point of view most important thing of such a solution is that the image should be "stateless"

After every power off it should revert to previous state to avoid maintenance.

You have two solutions, either with windows or with linux but it will take some time to setup everything.

- Whit linux I did manage to use a squashfs image with overlay in ram. A lightweight wm like matchbox and the wm should just launch the view client.

- I went windows 10, because my hardware was unstable be with linux, and to get to a stateless image suitable for distribution I used  the "windows universal write filter" with some policies and app locker.

On top on that you need some kind of management software for the fleet. I wrote mine in RoR and it allows me to monitor the laptops (last live timestamp, battery status, image version, ip and so on) and also because for performing some Computer Based Exams sometimes i need to switch form thin client to a browser kiosk.

In our  PC labs, where we have fixed and wired pc we use PXE with a self build linux image. Using PXE to bootstrap a laptop has 2 challenges: usually you need a boot loader installed on the laptop do do this, and then WiFi is a shared media, booting lots of machines would saturate your network.

There are also linux distribution aimed at this, but I can't remember the name.

Cristiano

[sappomannoz]

Hi Ray,

sure it's consumer, but at 238 euro + vat its a bargain. I can replace 50 of them per year for 12000 euro...

I don't want to give 600+ euro PC to students and hope for the best.

There are some rugged classroom dell 13" with extend batteries but the price point is different, but you won't get this battery life if you don't go very up with te price.

We bought a total of 150 PC after a trial with 6 pieces.

[Ray_handels]

Man am i jealous there.. I'm afraid we can't go that route with those devices.. They look pretty nifty to be honest. And we wont be lending out the devices to students though. They will be supervised when using them.

I will just try and see if we do have a chance to go for these devices..

Looking at the way to convert the machines i totally agree with Cristiano. I'd say try them all and see what suits you best.

I know that IGEL UDC has a PXE boot option but I'm not 100% sure if you can boot from server without installing it physically on the machine and also, you would need to use a cable connection for it, if you install locally you could use WIFI.

The other more expensive and complicated option (but just throwing it out there) is to use Citrix PVS, create a Windows 7/8/10 image and boot from that 1 golden image using PXE. No need to install an operating system on the machine and if you need to repurpose it, no need to install but just change boot from PXE to HD and your good to go. Licenses are quite expensive unfortenately.

[tjbailey]

We're using something called Stratodesk for a number of years on HP desktops (~350) and have been really happy with it.  We just converted a smaller location of ~30 desktops of Dell and HP.  In terms of laptops, we have a VDI initiative where ~600 HP's will be repurposed with Stratodesk since there's no real good zero/thin options.  The only issues we've seen is some wifi roaming between access points, but they've been improving on this.  It also supports Imprivata SSO which was a big plus for us and works very well.  We have them configured to either boot locally or via USB stick, but there's a PXE option as well.  The centralized management console is very easy to use and there's a slew of options you can control.

[Ray_handels]

Hey TJ,

Thanks for the post. I have seen Stratodesk NoTouch as well and was quite impressed with what they stated abut how it should work. I haven't been able to test it yet but looking at licenses and options they provide you to use it this sounds promising. Looking at your post it only gives me a better feeling to go and test it.

Downside to IGEL is that you license it on a mac address. If you have laptops and would like to use both wired and wireless you would need to have 2 licenses which kinda sucks.

Is there anything I need to look out for when implementing NoTouch?? Will be trying it later this week.

[JohnTwilley]

Have you looked into Dell (Wyse) PC Extender?

It basically installs ThinOS onto legacy PCs, and gives you an option of using a boot loader to select the OS.

We haven't tried it, but it sounded very interesting.

http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/wyse-pce/pd

[Ray_handels]

Yes we did when it was still Wyse. It could be that they improved it but IMHO it can't compete with both Stratodesk and Igel (from what i've seen from Stratodesk).

We were told from the start that it was only something to help you make it easier to move forward to physical machines.

But what might work for one might not work for another.

[HendersonD]

Purchase Chromebook, they are cheap

Use Google Admin Console to put Chromebook into single App Kiosk mode with the one App being VMWare View client

Done!

[HendersonD]

I like this solution but it has one big problem for us. The Chromebook client for ChromeOS does not have USB pass through. Plug any USB device into a Chromebook and the View desktop or RDS hosted application will never see it.