anyone has a setup of dumb terminals and XDMCP, or who knows of a group or company that uses such a setup please tell me. all linux server, workstations only.. .

i don't need the configuration or setup how-to.just want to know if someone is using it. if it's ok, cost-wise, etc.. .

thanks!

Have a look at www.ltsp.org they have case studies there for people setting up such networks very cheaply.

If you have one good machine, it is surprising how many users can run systems off it on X Terminals.

I have a linux server running LTSP that I can connect to using the PXE boot facility of my laptop (= no local configuration at all) and it works really well.

Older hardware can work effectively as an X terminal assuming you can get over some issues like whether they have built-in network cards or cd drives.

thanks dude!

what i'm wondering about is if the server can handle it well. what if you have like 30 workstations per subnet, and you have like 10 subnets? will this be ok? i haven't seen a live setup like this one and that's why i'm asking in the forums for advise.

Unfortunately, I don't think it's really possible to give a definitive answer to this.

If the 30*10 users are all using green screen applications, I think even a moderately powerful server could easily cope.

If they are all compiling linux kernels while they use OpenOffice and Mozilla, you would need a pretty hairy box to serve that many users.

In principle, there is absolutely no reason why not, but if you have to buy an IBM mainframe it's going to turn out pretty expensive.

What I can say, is that any set up involving a number of linux servers with cheap X terminals is going to be cheaper than providing individual staff members with their own fully featured box, both in terms of hardware and maintenance costs. (Don't underestimate the advantage of only administering 10 boxes rather than 300, particularly if they are all configured exactly the same.)

this would be an office scenario, not a development lab. so we wouldn't worry about someone compiling something. plus most of the workers wouldn't know how to compile or have knowledge about linux. they just point and click to do their jobs. the main apps that will be used are openoffice.org, mozilla, an instant messenger, plus some business software to manage the companies financials, accounting, etc.. .

i think we could also divide the load to 2-3 servers for the 30++*10 workstations.

thanks again man!