Computer Lab Thefts

[az]

Thin clients suck.

AZ

[spadnos]

Originally posted by Lizzard[MPE]
what would you want with a mouse ball?

A replacement for your old ugly mouse ball?

(or just to make things not work, if you're an even worse ****ole.)

- Steve

[MultimediaMan]

Thin Clients do not suck if they are properly deployed and managed.

They are silent; most have no moving parts and run cool passively
They generally have Decent Image Quality.
Most have Sound.
Most have the ability to connect a media reader device to it.
They connect to a powerful terminal service server that generally would be more powerful than any 2-3 workstations.
They are remotely manageable, and I mean that.

There is nothing short of reseating cables on a Wyse thin client I cannot do remotely. If it has power and an ethernet cable plugged into it, I can work on it. Powered on or off, it doesn't matter.

I shut down my workstation@work to use a TC (Did I mention a Dell 6650 is my Terminal Server shared with only about 10 other users on the box at any time?) 8-way (4 HT Processors) symmetric processing/16GB of RAM is very satisfying, even if only virtually.

[az]

Oh yes, and this solution is SO cheap and future-proof...

AZ

[MultimediaMan]

Az, actually, it is future-proof. 5 years is a long time in computer years. The server is what gets upgraded.

How much performance do you need for a machine that ONLY has to run RDP?

Hell, a P233 MMX can do that very well.

Think about it.

[MultimediaMan]

Price out 5 TCs with a midline Dual processor server...say a Dell 2650. That Dell 2650 scales to over 50 users easily.

Now price out 5 Optiplex GX280's.

Which is cheaper in the long run?

[az]

I don't know what RDP is, but I also don't think you'd need a P4 3GHz for office work. My Duron 1300 is really fast enough.

AZ

[schmosef]

Don't forget about licensing costs for TS clients and office software. And if you want Citrix, well, the price goes up. I haven't done it in a while but it wasn't cheap. There are factors other than price (eg. administrative ease, remote access, etc.) that help to justify thin client roll outs.

[MultimediaMan]

RDP is Remote Desktop protocol...XP's version of VNC.

Microsoft is doing a number of things right: their RDP protocol is robust and full-featured.

Yes, Schmosef, you are correct in having to have Terminal Services Licensing, but it is STILL cheaper than 5 standalone boxes...and when it's time to expand, it starts making even more sense.

Alternatives abound: like the LTSP (Linux Terminal Server Project) which are open-source.

For terminal-like installations, up to and including programmers and developers, modern Thin Clients have more than enough features and power for the 2D world.

More than a few manager's intraoffice egos ride on their "workstations", even though most never use a tenth of their machine's fullest potential. I purposely chose the Thin Client because not only do I know how to support them at all levels, I know I have way more horsepower than most "power users" would dream of at my disposal.

When someone says "Why do use that dinky thing?", I pull up the Task Manager, Flip over to the Performance Tab, and watch their eyes bug out.

[TnT]

Originally posted by Paddy
Want my solution???

You won't be able to give them away!

Similar reasoning is why I thought no one would take an iMac puck mouse...

The rash of thefts has been pretty recent. Before now, at least the past couple years I have worked here, the only things stolen have been checkout ethernet cables and headphones. The headphone problem was solved by getting new ones that are uncomfortable to wear.

We are moving to using Citrix for the labs, but a lot of the computers are used for multimedia work, so there are a bunch of beefy machines and nice equipment around still.

Cages sound like the safest bet for our smaller computers. We'd have to customize them though because those small Optiplexes need their CD drive and such accessible. Then new tables and such too.

I've volunteered to carry a bat and be a security guard, but apparently that isn't allowed.

[az]

As for mouse and keyboard stealing... make the computers play a sirene sound when one of them gets unplugged?

AZ

[Seajnky]

if somebody is in the library, it does not mean they are an actual student...