Thin client: Difference between revisions

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According to [[Ask_OLPC_a_Question_about_Software#OLPC_.26_LTSP|OLPC
According to [[Ask_OLPC_a_Question_about_Software#OLPC_.26_LTSP|OLPC & LTSP]] the laptop is intended to be usable without a server. The rationale is to make the device usable when a child is at home, possibly disconnected from the network and its resources. For this, and reasons of scalability, the OLPC laptop should not be considered a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin_clients thin client].

== Questions ==

* What percentage of schools can be expected to have a stationary PC as a server for thin clients?

:In most countries considering deployment, there are no computers currently in the schools. In many of them, not even power is available.

:All schools which receive OLPC laptops will also receive a [[school server]], with a ratio of roughly one school server per one hundred laptops. The intent of this server is not to turn the laptops into [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin_clients thin clients], but to instead provide an economical extension to communication and storage resources provided on the laptop. No computational resources are expected to be centralized in the school server, unlike a thin client architecture. Instead, a distributed approach to problem solving is suggested, where a student might be able to run a problem on a number of laptops on the same mesh segment.

* Is there a preference for web applications or remote X Windows applications?

:This question is orthogonal to that of thin clients and should best be addressed in a user interface forum.

:There is a preference for applications where the computation is performed locally on the laptop, or distributed across a set of laptops. Applications closely integrated with the XO laptop should use the [[Sugar]] interface guidelines and directly interface with the same application running on other laptops in the local network. That said, nothing prevents applications from being implemented in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECMAscript ECMAscript] and executing locally in a browser, perhaps accessing resources on the network for information. To enhance scalability and optimize the use of limited internet access capabilities, these web resources may be duplicated across the school servers.

== See also ==

* [[School server]]
* [[rdesktop]]
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_Terminal_Server_Project Linux Terminal Server Project] (Wikipedia)

[[Category:Feedback]]

Revision as of 09:34, 5 June 2007

According to [[Ask_OLPC_a_Question_about_Software#OLPC_.26_LTSP|OLPC