Tarantella is a "platform" (whatever meaning that word still retains) for delivering application interfaces to a remote client via Java and a proprietary protocol. I use the word "platform" because it is pretty much OS agnostic at both ends. The server part runs on multiple OSes, (Linux, for our purposes). The server will start a local process, capture the display, and forward it through its proprietary (and very bandwidth-light protocol). The server also will create connections to and pass on application interfaces coming from other boxes (Windows Terminal Server and/or X11 redirected). The client part is usually a Java program running inside of a web browser (IE or Netscape). It is not limited to the confines of the original browser window, however. The server can specify to the client whether the application's display should be opened inside of the "Tarantella Desktop" (in the current window) or in an external window. The server also determines the size of the window. Of course, the user can run multiple apps simultaneously as with other "desktops". The coolest thing is that, like VNC, it is *stateful*. So, if a user disconnects, the applications that are running can remain running (also configurable per application) and will still be there when the user reconnects later. The control is kept at the server running Tarantella.
It's all run through a web interface, even the admin. There's no command-line interface. If you want to secure the login screen, you have to use Apache with some sort of SSL enabled. If you want to secure the communications stream for the session (starting after login), then you can buy their SSL module. Here's an example scenario to give you an idea how it looks to the user: 1) User connects to the internet (or is already on the LAN) 2) Fires up browser and goes to https://tta.whereiwork.com/ 3) All kinds of crap gets downloaded to the browser and eventually a login appears. If it doesn't, then some sort of Java support is lacking in the browser. They may need to update the latest IE/Netscape. 4) The user logs in and their Tarantella Desktop appears. 5) The desktop has a column of buttons on the left that launch applications either in the pane on the right or in a new window. The user has no control over anything here, really. It's all up the Tarantella admin how things work. 6) User clicks on a button and the application is started on the appropriate server, grabbed by Tarantella, and then passed through to the browser. At this point, that's basically it. The user uses the program as he/she normally would. You can setup Tarantella's "passthru printing" to allow the user to print from whatever app to a queue on the Tarantella server. The job is then picked up by Tarantella and is forwarded to the browser of the appropriate user, which prints the job wherever the browser is running. This might take some tinkering, but it does work. For the admin, it's fully customizable and hierarchical. There are users and groups of users and groups of groups of users, etc. There are applications and groups of applications and groups of groups of applications, etc. Each level can impose some settings and it all resolves itself for the context of the current user and application. You can therefore specify which users get which apps and how each app runs. Oh, I almost forgot that it has its own tcp_wrappers-like ACL capabilities so it can be setup to allow connections only from trusted sources. It's a sweet setup with a decent built-in help system. And because it's from SCO (now Caldera), it has perfect Wyse terminal emulation! Enjoy! Jason _______________________________________________________________ Have big pipes? SourceForge.net is looking for download mirrors. We supply the hardware. You get the recognition. Email Us: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _____________________________________________________________________ Ltsp-discuss mailing list. To un-subscribe, or change prefs, goto: https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ltsp-discuss For additional LTSP help, try #ltsp channel on irc.openprojects.net
