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Hi all, I supply both PC's and Thin Clients. My thin clients run through a VM server and emulates a pc. I have had very few problems with them in this environment; most notably is the need for a logon script. We had more thin clients at one point but the need for Office, Adobe and the miriad of other "necessary" applications has reduced the thin clients to OPAC search machines located in the recesses of the upper floors of our library. They do work and they do provide a service. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Andrew Mutch" <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Tuesday, March 9, 2010 1:21:22 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: thin clients Lisa, It's been a couple of years since I looked at this for replacing some old Internet PCs with thin clients. But after some testing with thin clients, I decided against going that route at least for Internet computers. The main problems were inconsistent support for USB devices and poor support for streaming audio and video. Even a couple of years ago, I saw those as deal-breakers for our patrons. I would think that would be even more so today with the proliferation of patrons using USB devices and the large amount of online content viewed through sites like Youtube, etc. I also was facing the prospect of getting this to work with our third-party print and time management system (SAM from Comprise). I did end up using thin clients to replace my OPAC computers and it has worked well for that application. But even with Cisco switches, Gigabit network cards on the servers and CAT 5e cabling, there's still some lag browsing on the OPACs compared to the same experience on a PC. I suspect that difference would be magnified on a PC. I haven't priced out a thin client solution recently but off the top of my head, your costs would include: - Server hardware and Windows 2003/2008 server licenses - Client Access Licenses - 1 per each device using the server - Terminal Services Client Access Licenses - 1 per each device using the server for Terminal Services - Thin client devices (which don't provide the same cost break as they used to compared to low-end PCs suitable for use as Internet computers) As a public library, you should be able to get low-cost pricing on licenses from Microsoft through Tech Soup. http://www.techsoup.org/stock/microsoft/volume_licensing.asp If maintaining the PCs is the big problem, what areas in particular are you having problems with that you see the thin client solution solving? We use Group Policy to lock down our PCs but a solution like DeepFreeze or Windows Steady State can provide an even higher level of protection against PC problems. http://www.faronics.com/en/Products/DeepFreeze/DeepFreezeLibraries.aspx#vertical http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/sharedaccess/default.mspx Andrew Mutch Library Systems Technician Waterford Township Public Library Waterford, MI From: Library NT [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lisa Prolman Sent: Tuesday, March 09, 2010 12:01 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [LIBNT-L] thin clients Greetings all: Given that patrons want more and more computers and my staff has shrunk from 25 full and part-timers to 13 full and part-timers in the last year, I am searching out ways to get my patrons more stations without having to spend more time than I already do on computer maintenance. Thin clients seem like a workable solution for us as long as I don't spend too much time thinking about how much it would cost up front. Anyway, has anyone done a thin client install over the last few years who can give me some pointers about what to look for? I have 11 PCs that access the Internet and offer MS Office (7 in main library, 4 in children's room), 5 catalog computers (3/2), and 2 databases. I know there is an open source that uses Linux, but I am not all that familiar with Linux and would feel more comfortable staying with Windows if possible. I would probably keep the staff PCs fat as I don't want to mess with our circulation network. I searched the archives for information about this but didn't find anything more recent than 2004. Any and all information is appreciated. Thanks in advance. Lisa Prolman Assistant Director Greenfield Public Library 402 Main Street Greenfield, MA 01301 (413) 772-1544 [log in to unmask] The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair. -- Douglas Adams -- Christopher Garron Systems Analyst Carney Library UMass Dartmouth [log in to unmask] 508-999-8980 X8980