I've noticed a lot of thin clients becoming available pre used lately, & have indulged in obtaining a few to put Linux on to work as desktop systems; most will require a USB wifi stick to get online, if you don't (want to) use a cable connection.

So far, I have a HP T520, & a Dell/Wyse, both came with 4GB ram & 16GB onboard storage, which is enough to install Linux to.

Just yesterday, I ordered 2x IGEL thin clients, which only have 2GB ram, & 2GB onboard storage.

Most of these older models have DVI, some have DVI & VGA, whilst a few newer ones have DVI & HDMI, or DP & HDMI, so adapters will be necessary for most of them; & mine work fine.

I read somewhere of someone opening up an SSD drive, & what was inside was a DoM (Disk on Memory) card, so I tried opening a Samsung, & it really works, I have replaced the 16GB DoM that came in my Dell/Wyse, (which I also upgraded to 8GB ram), so it now has 128GB internal storage.

Anyone else using thin clients?

Network booted via LTSP. Works well enough around here for pretty much anything really. It's limit is only my lan speed although it does require a wired connection.

They have been using in Linux for quite a while. Still many are very old and slow so ....

Indeed. I should specify in my case they are fat clients. Fully hardware capable desktops minus local storage. This way I get the graphics / cpu / ram for normal workloads and occasional gaming.

For some reason I've always equated a thin client to just diskless.

Most thin clients have low power processors, & small disks, it's more a case of how much ram they come with.

These are the sort of computers that receptionists/typists needed, some simple desktop tasks, & usually, internet access.

PXE booting was another feature, & another reason for such small internal storage.

Plus, no distracting fan noise...

My 2x IGEL thin clients have arrived, fantastic value for £13 each, (thin client/power supply/VGA adapter).

After a bit of experimenting with the installed system, (IGEL's own version of Linux), I reformatted both drives & installed Fatdog64 to them; they work great, even though they're only 1.46GHz processors.

Edit: Just to say that they boot from USB3, just press F2 to get a boot menu, & select it.

Latest acquisition - a (second) HP T520, 4GB ram, 8GB M2 SSD, complete with power supply - £24.95.

Running an OpenBSD command line installation nicely - I need to relearn how to fully use the command line again, especially on the internet.

I downgraded this newly acquired one to just 2GB ram, so that I could upgrade one of my IGEL to 4GB, the one with the 128GB DoM, which is running Devuan/XFCE very nicely.

My 2GB/16GB DoM Igel is running Crowz, a lightweight Devuan derivative.

The other HP T520, 4GB/16GB M2 SSD, has an OpenBSD graphical installation on it now.

And my Dell/Wyse now is 4GB ram, (2x 2GB), with an internal 64GB SSD, attached with a SATA extension cable; also running Devuan/XFCE.

This has been a fun project, for little money.

Decided that I'll use the 2GB DoMs in my Igels, put Debian (XFCE) Live on one, & Crowz JWM live on the other...

(Upgraded the Dell/Wyse to a 128GB DoM.)

Update: Been messing about with them again, returned the 2GB/2GB Igels to Fatdog64, as it seems to suit them best.

On another note, I was on Ebay looking for a bargain, when I came across some 'job lot' sales of ex Government thin clients - so, I though, why not put in a daft bid - 15x HP T520 units - £7.99 for delivery, so I put in a bid of £17, (I told you it was a daft bid).......& I won!

That was £1.67ea....brilliant....so now I'll leave you wondering what exactly will I be doing with them.....

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Turn into cluster and hack the government? Maybe only the first part?

Guess you could build them up for charity.

Looks small

https://www.dectrader.com/pdf/quicks.../14958_na.html

I'd shoe horn linux on em and put em on our local radio show that sells peoples stuff in town over the air. Make some beer money.

Hey Roky, they'll defo get the Linux treatment for sure....

(The size of these units is 8" x 8" x 2" - stand them up or lie them flat.)



Maybe I'll try setting up a boot server for them......or just keep them as 'spares', they're great little machines, I already have 2 set up as desktops, running Linux & BSD, of course.

Can't really pass them on as they didn't come with PSU, but I have 3 that will work with them, for my own purposes.