that i agree with. but, the apps i'm talking about are internally
developed, very poorly designed foxpro apps and such. these are not
programs that you find outside of the agency.
windows systems.
If you're intent on switching the desktops to Linux, one thing I would
look at as a much lower-cost alternative to the terminal server route
would be using WINE to run the Windows apps. Particularly if they're
older apps, they may be well-supported. WINE has come impressively far
in the last couple years; I rarely find an app that isn't usable these
days. By far the worst-supported are things like AutoCAD and graphics
apps (these don't play well with remote desktops either), but most
productivity software and database-type apps should work great.
As one who has spent considerable time messing with the various flavors
of terminal servers (Citrix/Winframe, MS Terminal Server, VNC) I am not
really sold on their value, particularly when the goal is to just run a
few apps off a different platform than the client itself. The effort it
takes to make the apps seem seamless to the end user is great, and
without taking that approach you just end up with a lot of confused
users that don't understand the concept of the remote desktop.
The question that should be always be asked before implementing any new
solution is NOT "can it be done" but rather "should it be done". This
is a trap that many technically oriented folks like ourselves fall into
time and time again.
-N
Shawn Parker wrote:
good, at least i know it's feasible. :)
the plan is a mix of thin-client and full desktop usage. a lot of our
internal apps are old, custom windows programs. things we simply
cannot replace due to either federal/state policy or lack of
equivalent (and custom development is out of the picture right now).
the standard set up will be linux desktops, one or two networked
printers and rdp to the 2003 server.
the desktops will be used for email, web and openoffice. we have one
db app that must print forms for client signature, so the desktops
have to be able to print from terminal server to the local network
printer.
thanks.
Shawn,
When I was working in the Family and Community Medicine department over the
summer, I did just that. I had my laptop running Linux connect to a MS Server
2003 machine via rdesktop (krdc and Gnome Terminal services Client work well
too.) To print, what I did was either print right from Linux to the printers
by pointing CUPS to the printers' IP addresses for the network printers or if
I wanted to print from the Windows server session, the printer had to be
configured form the Windows server.
I suppose you could also use SMB printing to print from Linux to a Windows
print server too.
Phillip
On Monday 10 April 2006 09:09, Shawn Parker wrote:
we're considering moving to linux on the desktop and using rdp to
connect to a ms 2003 terminal server. my only concern at this point is
printer redirection for local printing.
has anyone tried this before?
i will be setting up a test environment soon, but i'm hoping to get
some insight before i start.
--
shawn
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shawn
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