On Wed, 8 Feb 2006 19:25, Duncan Guy wrote: > My primary interest is to provide my 30 specialist colleagues in our > group with a device that will allow them to log onto our network via a > VPN - securely - and use any computer as if they are in the rooms. > > This would allow us to look up notes etc form theatre and do billing etc > > Does BlackDog allow this or any other products that would - and must > really be luddite proof (ie. look and feel like windows) > > Duncan Guy > > www.specialistservices.com.au
Blackdog is not what you want then. It looks and feels like Linux because it is, and it has not enough processing power nor RAM for many desktop tasks. It could run a VPN session though securely, even VNC, using any host computer that is connected to the Internet without having to do any modification on that host computer. What we are using in my practice is Win4Lin Terminal Server (http://www.win4lin.com) It allows us to run Win98SE in a virtual machine running on Linux, and to connect remotely with any number of users in any number of sessions (as long as we have paid for the corresponding licenses) from virtually any platform to these virtual Windows boxes. It scales beautifully and is very gentle with ressources like RAM - on an Athlon 2000 with 1 GB of RAM 16 concurrent sessions run at the same speed as a single session, no difference - haven't tested more because of license constraints. We ran MDW first, but since 3 years the system ran only Pracsoft, Medibase and MYOB. Flawless, performance indistinguishable from running natively. Booting from scratch in under 3 seconds. Since the emulation layer prevents the usual resource problems in Windows leading to crashes, it is indeed more stable than running Win98SE natively - and if you need to reboot, it takes only 3 seconds. I understand McDonalds is using the same system on several hundred thousand work places (and employees don't even realize they are using just a virtual session)! Main drawback: you are constrained to Windows versions <= ME, some DirectX applications won't run in the emulation layer (fast 3D games- multimedia applications I tested all worked fine), and you are limited in what additional hardware you can use via USB and Firewire - scanners for example will not work as a rule. Why not run Windows Terminal Server? - far cheaper and far more comprehensible licensing; you only pay once and use forever incl. all future updates, and you can swap users etc as you wish. - far easier to administrate: you can create "templates" for Windows installation, and backup the whole system image into a single file and reinstall in seconds on another machine with completely different hardware and it will run without a hitch there too (because all hardware Windows sees is virtual) - easier to secure network connectivity What I would check first: if your application happens to run stable in WINE (or CEDEGA, or CrossOver - both commercial advanced versions of WINE) you are in paradise (almost): no licensing fees to pay per seat, all source code available for future proofing, huge developer community supporting it, and almost as easy to integrate networkwise (access GUI sessions from anywhere) as X itself. My advice: take the time to check whether the applications you really need run in WINE. If they do, your troubles will be over and it will simply work. If it doesn't, and you application runs well on Win98SE and the application vendors confirm that they will ensure compatibility with Win98SE go for Win4Lin TS. Else, consider Peter Machells solution, which appears to work w/o any major drawbacks apart from the licensing costs. He/his company appear to be experienced and competent in setting up solutions as the one you want, and their pricing is rather reasonable (I bought his services twice now and got excellent value for money) Horst _______________________________________________ Gpcg_talk mailing list [email protected] http://ozdocit.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gpcg_talk
