Turn one computer into more of them

[UbuWu]

After seeing this , I saw this website. Has anybody tried this with Ubuntu? It looks a bit complicated to setup, but I think it can potentially save a lot of money.

[totalshredder]

After seeing this , I saw this website. Has anybody tried this with Ubuntu? It looks a bit complicated to setup, but I think it can potentially save a lot of money.

Sounds like a good idea; but I'd end up having too much fun closing other people's windows.
Them "Who did that!"
Me "Must have been that bob kid"

It could be good if the computers aren't used often; and you wanted to place them in every room, like at your own home. But if you planned on more than one person using it... good luck my friend.

Luke

[az]

You can have as many X sessions running as you like. You would need a video card for each monitor. It is a pain to set up. But it can be done out-of the box with any Xwindows system.

[Jad]

but you will need to have a very good hardware.

[jdong]

but you will need to have a very good hardware.

Untrue. I have set up Ubuntu based FreeNX systems with relatively little. The central server was a 1.2GHz Athlon with 512MB RAM, and it was handling 10 users simultaneously running GNOME.

The clients basically ran a minimal install of Ubuntu, with an X server and an NX client.

[TravisNewman]

You can have as many X sessions running as you like. You would need a video card for each monitor. It is a pain to set up. But it can be done out-of the box with any Xwindows system.

yes, but can you have an independent keyboard and mouse?

[jdong]

Sure, if you have a nice USB hub & usb input devices.

But seriously, get separate thin-client systems... They don't need to be any more powerful than a basic Pentium I.

[UbuWu]

yes, but can you have an independent keyboard and mouse?

That is the whole thing that ruby backport page is about. You can use one computer with several graphic cards with monitors connected to them and have a seperate keyboard and a mouse for alk of them and you probably won't even notice that you are using the same computer during every day use.

[TravisNewman]

Yeah I know. I was replying to azz saying that you could do this with vanilla xorg. I don't really see the point of ruby if this is already included, but I've never heard of it being included... but yeah, thin clients would be much better, but not as cheap

[Brunellus]

naive question: would it be possible to have a hydra-headed thin-client using this system

as in, one box that acts as a client to a fat server--with lots of displays & keyboards sprouting out of it?

Even without my (mis)understanding of the concepts, the multiple displays idea strikes me as a great way for libraries to increase the number of catalogue terminals they make available, say.