From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org ([208.92.234.80] helo=lists.gentoo.org) by finch.gentoo.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1RrobW-0005xT-6D for garchives@archives.gentoo.org; Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:36:54 +0000 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 29044E08C0; Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:36:39 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mail-we0-f181.google.com (mail-we0-f181.google.com [74.125.82.181]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id AE7D9E08C0 for ; Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:35:34 +0000 (UTC) Received: by werb10 with SMTP id b10so3776237wer.40 for ; Mon, 30 Jan 2012 02:35:34 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=from:reply-to:to:subject:date:user-agent:references:in-reply-to :mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:message-id; bh=fnObh0abfO+Obti42XSsjf2c3xHxtVsTxwTBGPO/gcg=; b=Ls4w1tKFJ4fwHz9N83nCqYZSvqDszjuQB+LJdBit92XHdqMwy0RgyPh1MwGDSGTT1E nLlXfUlc+YSoWdgAGLZaIg+uGKx/p1Z9wFHOMV8n/ytReAas9duiBRFJ/5Av8CdzOrrI p3DrVfBCiQcD6CWh3x+4Y8k3tJWMGUpvsrKDQ= Received: by 10.216.136.200 with SMTP id w50mr6828072wei.2.1327919733896; Mon, 30 Jan 2012 02:35:33 -0800 (PST) Received: from dell_xps.localnet (230.3.169.217.in-addr.arpa. [217.169.3.230]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id fv6sm51012346wib.8.2012.01.30.02.35.32 (version=SSLv3 cipher=OTHER); Mon, 30 Jan 2012 02:35:33 -0800 (PST) From: Mick To: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] Multiseat -- LTSP? Date: Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:35:28 +0000 User-Agent: KMail/1.13.7 (Linux/3.0.6-gentoo; KDE/4.7.4; x86_64; ; ) References: <201201291202.41092.michaelkintzios@gmail.com> In-Reply-To: Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail X-BeenThere: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Reply-to: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; boundary="nextPart1695781.emBNxtJONf"; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; micalg=pgp-sha1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-Id: <201201301035.42046.michaelkintzios@gmail.com> X-Archives-Salt: ab413447-4fa7-445d-a8d4-217663ebc2a6 X-Archives-Hash: ce4b147f71f6d5533bacae6f3a7cddac --nextPart1695781.emBNxtJONf Content-Type: Text/Plain; charset="utf-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Sunday 29 Jan 2012 23:29:37 Grant wrote: > >> I'd like to have multiple users working from separate monitors, > >> keyboards, and mice, but all connected to a single Gentoo computer. > >> The main purpose is to minimize sys admin duties but hardware and > >> power requirements would also be minimized. > >>=20 > >> Apparently this is called "multiseat" and native support in Xorg might > >> not be ready for primetime: > >>=20 > >> http://wiki.x.org/wiki/Development/Documentation/Multiseat > >> http://vignatti.wordpress.com/2008/09/23/multiseat-roadmap > >>=20 > >> There is a configuration tool for Xorg multiseat called MDM: > >>=20 > >> http://wiki.c3sl.ufpr.br/multiseat/index.php/Mdm > >>=20 > >> but from what I've read it isn't ideal. Besides Xorg multiseat I've > >> read about LTSP and a few others: > >>=20 > >> http://www.ltsp.org > >> http://www.thinstation.org > >> http://automseat.sourceforge.net > >> http://www.openthinclient.org > >>=20 > >> There are also a lot of proprietary options. Is LTSP the way to go? > >=20 > > It may be, but as with all thin client models you would need a terminal > > computer for each user. > >=20 > > If you only have one machine and monitors, keyboards and mice for each > > user then you'll need multiple video cards (and a strong power supply) > > for your only PC. In this case something like > > http://automseat.sourceforge.net may be more appropriate. However, I > > have not used anything like this set up to offer an opinion on > > performance. > >=20 > > At work we use thin clients running Debian to serve MSWindows server > > desktop and apps to users. This setup uses the Citrix ica protocol, but > > I'm thinking that FreeNX coupled with VNC or relevant KDE or Gnome > > remote desktop implementation would probably work nicely and offer LAN > > and remote connection security at the same time. > > -- > > Regards, > > Mick >=20 > If I throw out installing a separate OS on a separate machine for each > workstation and all of the proprietary thin-client protocols, I think > I have 3 options: >=20 > 1. Connect monitors, USB keyboards, and USB mice directly to a server > with multiple video cards. I found a motherboard with 6 PCI-E slots: >=20 > http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=3DN82E16813128508 >=20 > 6 video cards could be installed for 6 workstations if the server goes > headless, and even more if multi-headed video cards are used. Xorg > requires some special configuration for this but this discussion from > 2010 sounds like it's something that is actually done: >=20 > http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-836950-start-0.html >=20 > These guys got it working in 2006: >=20 > http://www.linuxgazette.net/124/smith.html >=20 > 2. Set up a separate thin client for each workstation and run LTSP on > the server. This seems inferior to #1 because it requires setting up > and maintaining the LTSP server and client configuration, NFS, xinetd, > tftp, dnsmasq, and PXE-boot. Bandwidth would also be limited compared > to #1 and hardware and power requirements would be much greater. >=20 > 3. Run a Plugable thin client for each workstation: >=20 > http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004PXPPNA >=20 > This likely requires running "Userful Multiseat Linux" on my server > which is only packaged up for Ubuntu. The Plugable thin client > connects to the server via USB 2.0 which makes me wonder if it could > be made to work without Userful Multiseat Linux as a USB video card > and input devices, but I imagine drivers for the video card and > bandwidth over USB could be a problem. >=20 > I think #1 is the way to go but I'd love to hear anyone else's opinion > on that. Has anyone here ever set up multiseat in Xorg? Can you rely on Xorg devs to ensure that they are not going to break your=20 multiseat system in the future? Are you sure that you will come across bandwidth issues if you follow optio= n=20 #2? On a gigabit network at work we're running thousands of thin clients=20 distributed across hundreds of VM servers, and there is no noticeable laten= cy=20 (unless a particular VM MSWindows server plays up). I understand that managing multiple boxen is always a greater burden, but=20 something like GNAP may lighten the work needed? http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/base/embedded/gnap-userguide.xml Unfortunately I do not have experience of all the above setups to advice. =2D-=20 Regards, Mick --nextPart1695781.emBNxtJONf Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name=signature.asc Content-Description: This is a digitally signed message part. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.17 (GNU/Linux) iEYEABECAAYFAk8mcn0ACgkQVTDTR3kpaLbySgCeMkMZBAUSraBVi9p3DzV80h5m rEsAnR9MrthS9dIP6sD5Div09NKjGFgi =s1jA -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --nextPart1695781.emBNxtJONf--