[TriLUG] Dumb Terminals?

Janyne Kizer janyne_kizer at ncsu.edu
Fri Jun 7 21:04:03 EDT 2002


Well, you can set up old PCs with EPROMS (I don't know the details of
that) or you can purchase terminals (NCD, Wyse, etc.) either new or
used.  The rollout that I am doing uses purchased terminals and requires
16-32 MB of RAM depending on the model.  The terminals are very simple: 
memory, video, ethernet card, video card.  That's about it.  No moving
parts at all.  No hard drive.  They last a very long time (many of the
ones in our production enviornment are 7-8 years old).  In most cases
the boot image is transferred across the wire (the terminals request an
address from the DHCP server and then the boot image from the boot
server).  Typically the terminals take 15 seconds or so to get the boot
image and present the login screen.  Some of the terminals are WinCE
devices (yes, I know) so they do not have to get the boot image.  

The boot images are licensed so there is that cost.  In our case it has
not been a significant cost at all, especially if you consider the
number of years that we use them.

The LTSP project might be of some interest to you: 
http://www.ltsp.org/index.php 

"Lisa C. Boyd" wrote:
> 
> I'm not sure I'm even going to be asking this question right, so cut me
> some slack please :)
> 
> In one of the articles past along to the group (I believe from Josep) about
> schools switching to Linux, it was mentioned that a server is setup and
> then dumb terminals are used in the computer labs. What exactly is needed
> inside the computer for a dumb terminal? Like how much memory? hard drive?
> network card? etc. I'm assuming that the computer wouldn't need a floppy or
> cd-rom either.
> 
> Any info is greatly appreciated. Just point me in the right direction :)
> TIA!
> Lisa B.
> 
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-- 
Janyne Kizer
CNE-3, CNE-4, CNE-5
Systems Programmer Administrator I
NC State University, College of Agriculture & Life Sciences
Extension and Administrative Technology Services



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