Category Archives: ScoopIt Thin Client News

Thin Clients, Zero Clients, Android Stations and Cloud Clients
Since 1999, Thinclient.org has been reporting the thin client computing market as well as the ChromeBook, Zero Client, Android clients, Pi Raspberry Clients and Thick Client market. Generally the cloud computing market since it started with companies such as Citrix back in the late 80s.

A thin client is a lightweight[vague] computer that has been optimized for establishing a remote connection with a server-based computing environment. The server does most of the work, which can include launching software programs, performing calculations, and storing data. This contrasts with a fat client or a conventional personal computer; the former is also intended for working in a client–server model but has significant local processing power, while the latter aims to perform its function mostly locally.

Thin client hardware generally supports a keyboard, mouse, monitor, jacks for sound peripherals, and open ports for USB devices (e.g., printer, flash drive, webcam). Some thin clients include legacy serial or parallel ports to support older devices such as receipt printers, scales or time clocks. Thin client software typically consists of a graphical user interface (GUI), cloud access agents (e.g., RDP, ICA, PCoIP), a local web browser, terminal emulators (in some cases), and a basic set of local utilities.

VNC over WebSocket tunnel. Practical tutorial for the remote office

Interactive desktop environments can be remotely accessed by using many technologies. Virtual Network Computing (VNC) is one of these.

Source: www.praim.com

In-depth article detailing exactly how to do VNC over WebSocket tunnel.  And excellent writeup/tutorial!

 

Excerpt: 

To evaluate if the WebSocket is a viable solution, we used VNCPlay[a], a set of tools to measure interactive performance. VNCPlay includes a VNC client that allows to record an interactive session and replay it under different system configurations. During the replay, the session output is saved into a log file. Two or more session logs can be fed to an analysis tool, included in VNCPlay, that produce response time statistics, which can be further elaborated. Response times to user activities are considered a good measure of interactive performance.

We built a test environment, composed of 3 LANs, that represent our “internet LAN”, the local network and the remote office network, and corresponds to the central, left and right parts in the figures above, respectively. The local and office LANs access to the internet LAN through two ZeroShell[b] router devices, each one configured to NAT the internal addresses to the router’s internet LAN address and to serve as default gatewayfor the internal LAN. The local LAN hosts the VNC client and the tunnel server with a port forwarding rule on the router to allow to connect to the tunnel server from the internet LAN. Similarly the office LAN hosts the tunnel client program and the machine running VNC server.

We used VNCPlay to record a test session, over a direct connection to the target machine with a Linux Mint OS.

Thin Client, a solution for schools

Working as an IT Manager (or even worse, to be in charge of a computer lab) at a school is a demanding work. Each teacher has his own needs.

Source: www.praim.com

Working as an IT Manager (or even worse, to be in charge of a computer lab) at a school is indeed a very demanding work.

 

As you can imagine, every teacher has his own needs and really many of them. Plus, their highly probable lack of IT knowledge is not very helpful for us,  technical assistants.

The problems that I am dealing with are more or less always the same:

 

1. Installation of multiple PC with many software (every teacher wants his or her own programmes that later are  used by students).

2. Heterogeneous and diverse PC parks (which means different installations and difficulties even for drivers and basic services).

3. Security issues (open USB ports, shared passwords).

4. High PC failure rates as apparently students don’t care too much to take a proper care of them.

So, what can we do? Is it possible to change this situation?

Dell Latitude E7270 & 3460 Mobile Thin Clients Announced | StorageReview.com – Storage Reviews

() Dell has unveiled the Latitude E7270 and Latitude 3460, two new redesigned mobile thin clients purpose-built for professionals on the go who need their intellectual property and data protected.

Source: www.storagereview.com

The E7270 and 3460 thin clients leverage leverage Windows Embedded Standard 7 64-bit, with the option to upgrade to Windows 10 and are designed to power the most demanding use cases–from all-day computing to graphics-intensive applications. They feature Intel dual core processors with integrated graphics, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD, and an extended battery life. Both thin clients provide users with a wide selection of connectivity options and ports including USB 3.0, HDMI, gigabit Ethernet, and WLAN and Bluetooth.