[TriLUG] Linux thin client

Wed May 31 10:12:32 EDT 2017

ok, if you are just looking to turn a single box into a thin client, you have alot of choices. The concept of LTSP should be useful to read, but it is really just a drop in full blown solution for a thin client server based architecture. If your atom only has memory but can be PXE booted, that would be a great way to use your hardware. PXE booting is an awesome way to utilize old hardware and ditch the hard drive. Also, it is nice that you boot the same image every time to remove any hacking that may have occurred. PXE boots can take some time to boot if your image is too large. Also just do a general search on thin client linux solutions and you should find quite a bit. 

Here are some more suggestions.
1. Open Thin Client - I have seen this before, but I have not tried it, however, it looks interesting. Based on a minimized Ubuntu.2. Tiny Core - This has been a personal favorite of mine for a long time. It is lightening fast with super customization capability in and easy fashion once you learn the idea behind the solution. I still use it on some HP thin client hardware, and it is awesome for PXE booting, usb booting, or built-in flash drive, which is how I use it for my HP think clients. However, I have also PXE booted in the past. The flash drive boot is faster though.
Have fun and good luck.

    On Wednesday, May 31, 2017 9:28 AM, Ron Kelley <rkelleyrtp at gmail.com> wrote:

 Thanks for the info.  I recently upgraded an old Atom D510 system and was looking for ways to repurpose the motherboard as a thin client workstation (working out on the deck).  I have a rather beefy ESXi server (20 cores, 64G RAM) and wanted to try out various Linux desktop distro (Elementary OS, Ubuntu, etc) using a thin client device.

> On May 31, 2017, at 9:14 AM, John Vaughters via TriLUG <trilug at trilug.org> wrote:
> 
> I played around with LTSP and liked it very much. It really depends with what you want to do to guide which direction you should go. Are you looking for full production with reliable hardware? or is this an education environment? Not really asking, just pointing out that depending on your needs you may make different choices. Thin clients should work fine for LTSP. Cost and reliability go down greatly as you scale up. A beefy server with alot of thin clients would probably be most cost effective if you include maintenance and energy costs. The other option of using old hardware tends to be costly if they are running 24/7 and maintenance will go up as well. However, for a 12 hour on time and willing repair people that education environments tend to have, it may be a good choice, especially if you can get used donated hardware. You should be able to find several solutions for thin clients running a light linux to use for the end user. For testing you could start with an RPi or use it exclusively. Again, depending on how much reliability you are looking for.
> John Vaughters
> On Wednesday, May 31, 2017, 7:14:34 AM EDT, Ron Kelley via TriLUG <trilug at trilug.org> wrote:Just needed a jumping off point for now.  Thanks for the reply!
> 
> 
>> On May 31, 2017, at 12:33 AM, John Ostrander <john at crackroot.org> wrote:
>> 
>> I've done a couple projects using LTSP, but I always use fat clients. With that hardware I'd guess that's what you want anyway. Do you have more specific questions or are you just looking for a jumping off point?
> 
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