A. Toprak wrote:
Hello All:Microsoft offers Windows 2000 Terminal Server Edition (and now, Windows 2003 Server with Terminal Server). These products are the competing concept to LTSP from Microsoft. They allow multiple users to concurrently run Windows applications simultaneously. In the Microsoft solution, you would use Windows '98, ME, 2000, XP, or CE on the client for keyboard/mouse input and video/audio output. The application would run on the Windows 2000 TS or Windows 2003 Server.
I am proposing the LTSP as a solution to a client. They currently have all
Windows 2000 computers and will be keeping them around. I'm sure they will
bring up the question themselves:
Are there any competing solutions from Microsoft to LTSP?
Note: In the Microsoft solution, you must use a Microsoft licensed OS for both the client and server. Even, if you use a Wyse terminal that has Windows CE built-in, you still paid Microsoft for the license in Wyse terminal.
I had to setup a network with 8 Terminal client computers running Win98 + the Microsoft terminal client program and 8 windows 2000 computers running their own OS, with a Win2k3 server. Just my personal experience was it's a pain in the a*. It's unnecessarily complicated, licensing is difficult to setup as it is not well documented and locking down workstations to internet access only is really difficult if you want other users to have OpenOffice/WinDVD/whatever as the Internet explorer can be used to start any program (I know there is some permission management, but that will make the thing overly complicated). Never seen something as easily to be locked down as icewm/ltsp.
Though it's a school, we paid more than 10% of the total project (8 freshly bought PC+server, 8 old PCs as terminals) only for MS licenses which does not really satisfy me, school's rebates (from MS) are fine, though school budgets are very small here.
If you go the LTSP way the only thing to be managed will be the LTSP server which can be used from any other computer too (there's XWIN32, or as free alternative, you can use the cygwin X with any Windows workstation to access the server's graphical interface), samba (file sharing of the linux server) is compatible and fully usable from Windows clients and the linux server even can be integrated with an WinNT user database (others did, I didn't have to).
As far as licensing goes on the Windows Server (2000 or 2003), you must pay. First, you must pay for a server license to operate Windows 2000 or 2003 Server. Then you must pay for a Terminal Server Client Access License (TS CAL) for each session that is to be running on the server.
They sold us the wrong type of CALs (at 8EUR/terminal), so we had to order another set of licenses... Never hated MS more than at that moment.
Granted, Windows Terminal Server runs the RDP protocol. So, any device that can communicate RDP (i.e., rdesktop on Linux), can connect to the Windows Terminal Server.
Which needs licenses though, as they are administered on server-side.
You can go the microsoft way. I do not like nor recommend so. This is my personal opinion, not affiliated with my company, my university or something else. I just like LTSP. Nuff said
Anselm
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