low-spec PC as a dumb(ish) terminal


Results 1 to 6 of 6

Thread: low-spec PC as a dumb(ish) terminal

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Posts
    699

    low-spec PC as a dumb(ish) terminal

    I was just wondering about the possibility of buying a cheap old PC to use as a dumb terminal, networked to my main PC. That way I wouldn't need much storage space (all apps already installed on the main PC).
    The second PC would be used mainly for web-browsing/chatting.

    How feasible would this be?
    If I run, say, Firefox on the slower PC, how much of the resources needed to run it (RAM/CPU/graphics card) will be taken from the slow PC and how much from the faster one?
    Athlon 1.2GHz, 768MB RAM, Mandrake 10 Official, KDE 3.3.0, kernel 2.6.3-13mdk, nVidia GeForce FX5200, chaintech 7AJA2 mobo with onboard sound.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2000
    Location
    Calgary, Alberta, Canada
    Posts
    8,116
    the easiest way...

    you would need an x server installed on both boxes (but not necessarily running on the faster machine).

    you could run any app on the faster box, and export that app over to the x display on the slower machine.

    the only thing that would happen locally (on the slower box) would be the app displaying through the x server locally... all the guts of the app woudl run on the faster box.

    from an x perspective, the apps are clients and the x display is the server... kinda backwards but that is how it is.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 1999
    Posts
    3,202
    I've run 6 P75s with 16mb ram off a single P2-233 wtih 384mb. Firefox ran just fine.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Posts
    699
    Sweet, thanks very much
    Athlon 1.2GHz, 768MB RAM, Mandrake 10 Official, KDE 3.3.0, kernel 2.6.3-13mdk, nVidia GeForce FX5200, chaintech 7AJA2 mobo with onboard sound.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2000
    Location
    Houston, TX, USA
    Posts
    1,290
    Another alternative for this situation is LTSP, the Linux Terminal Server Project.
    "I'm not closed-minded, you're just wrong" - Bucky Katt

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    hiroshima
    Posts
    15
    LTSP is very good - you don't even need a HD in the terminal. I have a couple of p133s running icewm simultaneously off a 2G celeron with 0.5 G of RAM. They run sooo much faster than when they ran win98. firefox runs like it does on the server. In fact it IS running on the server - the terminal is only that.
    nigel
    hiroshima
    linux counter #208272

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •