Thin clients for AIX desktop

UNIX AIX
1

Hello,
I've been on Sun gear for years, using Sun Rays. With the news that Sun Ray is to be discontinued, I've taken an interest in researching other thin client solutions. I'm interested in using the thin clients on Solaris/SPARC, but also in future, quite possibly on AIX.

So, what simple thin client solutions are there to permit a graphical login on both server platforms? I just want a regular CDE desktop, no Windows, no Citrix, no VMWare. Basically I want a Sun Ray for AIX.

The AXEL AX3000 looks very simple, but also very old. I don't need much performance, so really a VNC client in hardware would do!

Thinlinc looks great, but the server is only for Solaris and Linux.

Love to hear some ideas.

Cheers

Garry

2

I use VNC, which might be similar to SunRay but is almost open source. The X desktop runs on the target server, and I use one desktop per server, so X connections are always local. There are a variety of vnc viewers, right now I use tightVNC, a JAVA viewer. VNC can view PC and MAC desktops, too. Not only is the client lite, the server is close to the apps for great speed. You can share views for mentoring, and pick up from home what you left at work without losing a keystroke.

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3

I'd also recommend VNC. I've used it on low-bandwidth, high-latency connections with good success.

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4

I also use VNC on linux and AIX and the UltraVNC client/viewer and WinVNC server on windows.

I find it all very easy to setup and use.

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5

Thank you for the responses, this is sounding like the way forward. I just tried VNC on Solaris, and although it was not as fast as the Sun Ray over broadband, it was way closer than I expected.

Mostly I'll be using it on the local network, so that should be a load faster anyway. Thanks again, I think I'll check out the AXEL AX3000 thin clients, as they support VNC in hardware, should make for a quite Sun Ray like experience I think.

All the best

Garry

6

VNC has many options you can tweak to select different/no compression schemes and such, so it may get closer with tuning.

You can run it in an ssh tunnel, too.

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7

Cool, it'll likely just be on a local network, so probably no SSH required, I'll need to give it a try once I get my test machine.

Cheers

Garry

8

My favorite X11 Server for a windows "client" is Xming.

May not be as fast as VNC, but it works easily over a X11forwarding opening.

I have to think quite a bit.... ah yes - XDMCP which uses port 6000 - is another way (old-fashioned?) to connect to one of several CDE displays.

Pros/Cons

vnc has had bad press (maybe fixed a long time ago) re: screen sniffing, clear text communication, etc.. XDMCP can have similiar problems. Hence, due to my frequent need for encrypted communications I continue to use Xming and X11 forwarding in an ssh session.

9

VNC is remote control software, so on a PC it could be a security vulnerability allowing a hacker to take over your desktop. As such, it has made its way onto some lists of forbidden files.

Xming is a simpler, more straightforward X Server to run on Windows. The transport is X11 not VNC, so some apps may suffer from the longer X11 latency.

Both apps are subject to the usual challenges of making X fonts available local to the X Server to support target apps.