Thin Client Suggestions and Questions

[Bryan R.]

Due to budget concerns, I'm looking at leveraging my client's powerful server hardware to come up with a VDI solution. I have been thinking of repurposing their aging Windows XP machines with some kind of Thin Client OS. I've seen Windows Thin PC in the past but it seems that's been discontinued (?). What are some options for this scenario?

[Thomas the Tank Engine]

Linux, *BSD, etc.

[Clirion]

Roll your own Linux distro that has your VDI or Term Services client installed in it. 

 

[binaryzero]

Throw away those machines, and purchase proper thin clients. 

 

But then again, the cost of setting up VDI correctly out weights the cost of a traditional workstation.

 

 

[Bryan R.]

1 minute ago, Jared- said:

Throw away those machines, and purchase proper thin clients. 

 

But then again, the cost of setting up VDI correctly out weights the cost of a traditional workstation.

 

 

Care to link a "proper thin client" that's priced as a thin client and not a PC? After all, that's what this is all about.. budget.

 

[tonyjr]

Have you considered using Zero clients? I use LG ones based on the Tera2 chipset for VDI and have no complaints. They offer a small unit which can either be desktop standing or VESA mounted, or all-in-one monitors with the Zero client built-in.

 

They were the cheapest Tera2 based Zero clients I could find at the time.

 

 

TonyJr

[tonyjr]

I forgot to mention that you could also use VMware Horizon Client software on the existing PCs, if using VMware VDI.

 

TonyJr

[sc302 Veteran]

if using pcs you can turn them into a kiosk so that they run the vdi client software. 

 

change the explorer.exe in the shell portion of the registry to be the exe of the client software.  or change it to a looping bat file/script that always redirects to the vdi client software even if the users closes out (I have done this countless times). otherwise purchase a thin client

[Anibal P]

On 3/9/2016 at 2:47 AM, Bryan R. said:

Care to link a "proper thin client" that's priced as a thin client and not a PC? After all, that's what this is all about.. budget.

 

Here ya go, less than 10 seconds: 

https://www.google.com/search?q=thin+client&oq=thin+client&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.3007j0j1&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#q=thin+client&tbm=shop

 

We are testing Dell Wyse thin clients at work, they work well 

[Bryan R.]

18 hours ago, Anibal P said:

Here ya go, less than 10 seconds: 

https://www.google.com/search?q=thin+client&oq=thin+client&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.3007j0j1&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#q=thin+client&tbm=shop

 

We are testing Dell Wyse thin clients at work, they work well 

Going straight to Dell, their ThinOS options start at $299 just for the box...Considering the Intel Compute Stick is full Windows and costs $120, my request for a thin client priced like a thin client and not a PC still stands.

 

The cheap Dell thin clients that I find in Google Shopping seem to be for specific environments like XenApp or outdated ones like Windows MultiPoint which is superseded by VDI options (VM-based or session-based with RDS). Some of them have no HDD or OS.

[sc302 Veteran]

thin client will not have an hdd in the low end price range.  flash storage sure, but no hdd.  thin clients are made to connect to rds or xen/citrix or run very light applications, again on the low end.  They are made to be connected to a host system, not to be ran as a standalone...this is what makes them thin, just enough to connect to the system that has the software installed that you need to run as well as the power to support running those applications. 

 

your stick isn't bad, but it lacks the ports that make it a thin client.  Some businesses require usb and a hard wired network connection, esp on devices that do not move.  You can pickup an hp thin client for around 160...if you look harder you may be able to find cheaper.  Understand, that this device is specifically made to connect to a host system like rds or xen app and has all of the ports necessary to connect local devices to it.  This can be done with cheap used computers, in many cases...however there is less to image and keep up to date with a true thin client so you should figure that into your cost.

 

There are cheaper.

https://www.amazon.com/HP-Client-GX-209JA-M5R74AT-ABA/dp/B0143PYVA2/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1466987516&sr=8-7&keywords=hp+thin+client

 

[farmeunit]

You might check out NComputing's stuff.

https://www.ncomputing.com/

 

 

[Bryan R.]

51 minutes ago, sc302 said:

thin client will not have an hdd in the low end price range.  flash storage sure, but no hdd.  thin clients are made to connect to rds or xen/citrix or run very light applications, again on the low end.  They are made to be connected to a host system, not to be ran as a standalone...this is what makes them thin, just enough to connect to the system that has the software installed that you need to run as well as the power to support running those applications. 

 

your stick isn't bad, but it lacks the ports that make it a thin client.  Some businesses require usb and a hard wired network connection, esp on devices that do not move.  You can pickup an hp thin client for around 160...if you look harder you may be able to find cheaper.  Understand, that this device is specifically made to connect to a host system like rds or xen app and has all of the ports necessary to connect local devices to it.  This can be done with cheap used computers, in many cases...however there is less to image and keep up to date with a true thin client so you should figure that into your cost.

 

There are cheaper.

https://www.amazon.com/HP-Client-GX-209JA-M5R74AT-ABA/dp/B0143PYVA2/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1466987516&sr=8-7&keywords=hp+thin+client

 

Thanks for the HP option. 

This thread has been all about the cheapest option. This is a private school with a limited budget and I managed to get them to buy a powerful server - one that could handle an RDS infrastructure. But unless I can find something cheaper than an Intel Compute Stick + Monitor + KB/M, they can't afford to invest in licensing for RDS. They have a new principal now so maybe I can change that... Thanks for the advice.