Making A Easy-To-Setup $50 Linux Multi-Seat Computer

[chithanh]

From experience: You will meet resistance from office workers if fullscreen Youtube videos don't work. No matter how free your driver or how elegant your multiseat setup may be.

[pingufunkybeat]

From experience: You will meet resistance from office workers if fullscreen Youtube videos don't work. No matter how free your driver or how elegant your multiseat setup may be.

But it works?!? I use it at home all the time.

N.B. I'm talking about classic multi-seat, one card per seat, which is fully accelerated.

[chithanh]

Mostly the thin-client multiseat setups suffer from the Youtube problem™. If your seats are directly connected to a PCIe graphics card, ideally with no extra layer (e.g. Xephyr) in between, then you will likely have good video playback performance and 3D acceleration.

[perpetualrabbit]

I honestly cannot imagine what you lose in terms of performance and important features with open drivers, to the point where they are not an option IN AN OFFICE.

Do you do CAD and 3D modelling in your office? Or watch high-bitrate BluRays? Which features are missing?

Free drivers are a perfect match for office work. In fact, I find them to be superior to the blobs for regular desktop usage.


Anyway, this is a very interesting development. It's a shame that it's GNOME-only so far, but I'm sure that KDM will pick it up soon, as it has traditionally been much better with multi-seat than GDM. It will take a while for all this to trickle down to other distributions, but it shows how much important work the Fedora/RedHat people do.

I even forgive them for PulseAudio :P

Well, it is an office with scientific computing workstations. They actually use the graphics at full speed, and moreover, they use CUDA and OpenCL. Those are only just being experimented with in the open source drivers at best.

[pingufunkybeat]

Well, it is an office with scientific computing workstations. They actually use the graphics at full speed, and moreover, they use CUDA and OpenCL. Those are only just being experimented with in the open source drivers at best.

OK, that makes sense. CL is indeed not ready yet.

[curaga]

This is similar to "thin clients" but different. This solution are called "zero state clients" or "ultra thin clients".

This solution is instead something different and called "zero state clients", I really like this solution. Everything is run on the server and there is no cpu in the client that runs any software. The clients dont run any software and you can not upgrade them. If you google, there are several vendors that sell "zero state clients". Avoid "thin clients" - they suck. Imagine a PC driving several other workstations. Each client uses 2.5 Watt which is very good. Say your PC uses 100 watt, and say you have ten users, then each user will spend 10 watt. That is better than each user using 100 watt pc each = 1000 watt. However, the problem with "zero state clients" has always been graphics. 1280x1024 which this solution utilize, is not really usable.

SunRay is definitely a thin client, it has its own cpu and so on. I guess the main difference to the WinEmbedded clients of HP is that the OS is netbooted instead of installed.

But that in no way saves the admin from having to update/patch it, just on the server.

BTW, if a thin client takes 100W it's hardly thin anymore

[bernieplugable]

If that's the case, can we get one where the link between the host PC and the Plugable hub is wired RJ45 or wireless?

Yes, your diagram is exactly it (if you also add a USB audio device alongside the video, keyboard, and mouse).

Ethernet obviously would have some big advantages, but overall USB (being a low-level, master-slave, plug-and-play bus) is part of what makes this doable.

* It's lower cost, which is critical when you're fighting for each dollar as you are with this scenario
* It can be 100% plug and play (as it is in F17). Key for schools, etc.
* It can be lower latency (with good low-level drivers, which Linux generally has)

Once USB devices become network devices, you kind of start heading away from the multiseat world to the network X term or VNC type world. Pros and cons.

Wireless USB is ok, but not low cost, robust, or high throughput enough for the multiseat scenario (in general).

[kebabbert]

SunRay is definitely a thin client, it has its own cpu and so on.

SunRay has a cpu yes, but the cpu does not run software. Everything is processed on the server. Nothing is run on the SunRay. It only handles I/O, mouse and keyboard into the server, and the server sends back bitmaps. Impossible to hack. And Sunray is like a mouse or keyboard, how can you hack a mouse?

Dont you think this USB client has a cpu too? It has. It is similar to the Sunray in construction. The server sends back graphics, which this USB client shows. This USB client does not run software. (I suspect)

But ordinary thin clients, are weak and have a OS to boot into, etc.

[curaga]

SunRay has a cpu yes, but the cpu does not run software. Everything is processed on the server. Nothing is run on the SunRay. It only handles I/O, mouse and keyboard into the server, and the server sends back bitmaps. Impossible to hack. And Sunray is like a mouse or keyboard, how can you hack a mouse?

Dont you think this USB client has a cpu too? It has. It is similar to the Sunray in construction. The server sends back graphics, which this USB client shows. This USB client does not run software. (I suspect)

But ordinary thin clients, are weak and have a OS to boot into, etc.

SunRay definitely runs an OS and their modified VNC client on it. I don't see why you think it's suddenly something great; it's really rather standard thin client.

This thing here, it's an USB hub + displaylink usb adapter in a nice case. No VNC, no CPU.

[kebabbert]

SunRay definitely runs an OS and their modified VNC client on it. I don't see why you think it's suddenly something great; it's really rather standard thin client.

This thing here, it's an USB hub + displaylink usb adapter in a nice case. No VNC, no CPU.

No, the SunRay is not a standard thin client. It is much different. Some call it zero state client. Oracle calls it ultra thin client. Basically, it is similar to a keyboard. A keyboard has no intelligence of its own (though strictly speaking, the keyboard do have a cpu) and the keyboard only handles I/O. No software is run on the keyboard.

For instance, you can hot desk. You can not do that with an ordinary thin client. Have you studied the SunRay or are you guessing? Very different. Sunray is similar to this USB client (which do have a cpu, even a keyboard has a cpu). The Sunray does not run an OS, it has a BIOS (actually, something called Firmware). But no OS. Nothing to patch. Nothing that can be hacked. No virus is possible. No harddrive, no nothing.