Hi Sonia Heres a little twist. I use RH9 (Fedora now) and Ximian Desktop 2. In Ximian desktop is an app that lets you completely log in to any windows terminal server. I have used the citrix ICA under Linux and it's not bad......but this is better. Check it out. I have been a Windows Sysadmin for the last 10 or so years and I've only switched to Linux a year ago, ut my laptop needs to access all my clients old windows servers (Until I convince them to become Linux sites). The reason I mention this is so you know what level of stability and access I am getting from XD2.
The other good thing about XD2 is that it is very good for weaning Windows users across. It is really familiar to them and most of the users I've tried have adapted to the new environment in no time. So theres my 2 cents worth. Hope it helps. Kev -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Grant Parnell Sent: Tuesday, 24 February 2004 9:12 AM To: Sonia Hamilton Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [SLUG] accessing MS desktops from Linux On Sat, 21 Feb 2004, Sonia Hamilton wrote: > One of my clients is planning to upgrade their network, and I'm > pricing MS (Terminal services + a whole n/w of new desktops + licenses > - ouch). What I want to do is put Linux on all the old desktops, and > have graphical access to 1 windows machine - what can I run on Linux > that will do this? > > I know I can use VNC, but it's a bit clunky, especially since the 1 > Windows app that the users need to access is their main app (which > they use all day). > > Anyone had experience with the Citrix ICA Client running on Linux? It > looks promising. > > Any other hints as to what I could use? I've read the other replies to date and have more to add. I guess I'm slightly biased as I work for EverythingLinux which sells some of the products I'm going to mention. Win4Lin Terminal Server 3.0 (5 users $882.75) plus 5 licenses for (Win95, Win95OSR2, Win98, Win98se, Windows ME). IE no additional CAL's. This solution requires a good sized server running Linux with a Win4Lin enabled kernel (they offer rpm's for various distros - plus open source patch). Then you install the Windows install files and each user runs the 'win' application as needed which launches a real copy of Windows. Licensing required is only for Win4Lin and the number of CONCURRENT windows users - ie it tells you something like "Too many users" when you try to run it. We had a copy running on RedHat 7.1 for about 2 years but decided to migrate it to a single workstation as we now only have one occasional user. (Laura running Photoshop / Corel for doing SOME advertising graphics which requires CMYK output - Gimp's catching up though). The same server or another server could be used to support PXE booting of the workstations and act as a Linux Application server (ie all the apps run on it with screens exported to the workstation's X server). This means you don't need grunty workstations with disk drives or fans or any moving parts.... and yeah we sell them too <grin>. Another possibility is Wine or Crossover Office which is the up-to-date commercial version of wine. Thanks to Code Weavers you can run an impressive array of Windows apps without having a single copy of Windows. MS-Office, Inernet Explorer (why bother?), Adobe products to name a few I've setup for a client. For those that don't know this is achieved by writing from scratch libraries that emulate the function calls available to Windows applications and that's VERY impressive! It is however why some apps don't yet run, they call a function that's not yet implimented - something that doesen't happen with the solutions I mentioned earlier. -- ---<GRiP>--- Electronic Hobbyist, Former Arcadia BBS nut, Occasional nudist, Linux Guru, SLUG/AUUG/Linux Australia member, Sydney Flashmobber, BMX rider, Walker, Raver & rave music lover, Big kid that refuses to grow up. I'd make a good family pet, take me home today! Do people actually read these things? -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html --- Incoming mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.593 / Virus Database: 376 - Release Date: 20/02/2004 --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.593 / Virus Database: 376 - Release Date: 20/02/2004 -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
