How to reduce the amount of computer towers in my home?

September 25, 2006 5:00 AM

how possible/ difficult would it be to link two or more monitors to the same tower and be able to have different users working on the same system from different monitors? better asked, could you use some sort of log in system for windows xp which would enable multiple users to use the same system from different areas, having separate files, programs, etc.?
posted by localhuman to computers & internet (14 comments total)

If I understand you correctly, you’re basically describing Terminal Services. But you’d need the main system to be running a Server flavour of Windows (in Application Server mode), as 2000 Workstation and XP Home and Pro will only allow one user to log-on at the one time.
posted by ed\26h at 5:14 AM on September 25, 2006

This may interest you.
posted by flabdablet at 5:40 AM on September 25, 2006

If you don't need multiple simultaneous logins, then this can be accomplished with a multi-out video card and WinXP's User Accounts (check the Control Panel). However, the mouse and keyboard issue would be a bit tricky if the monitors are far away from each other (for example, I have a TV and traditional monitor hooked up to one tower, but they are both controlled by the same mouse and keyboard).
posted by muddgirl at 5:45 AM on September 25, 2006

What muddgirl's talking about seems kind of clumsy but would work if they didn't both need to be logged in. You'll need mirroring over an extended desktop, but as long as you go USB you can use multiple keyboards and mice no problem.

To do this simultaneously you'll either need to "buy" Windows Server or just get another tower. That said, there's a lot of small boxes out there nowadays. Look into something ITX.
posted by cellphone at 6:38 AM on September 25, 2006

You can't have the setup you describe, with only one actual computer and multiple input/output terminals, at least not with Windows and commodity hardware. With that in mind, to get something approximating this, you have a few possibilities.

As the other posters have mentioned, it's possible to have a central computer host your files, applications, and so forth--this is generally knows as "thin client" computing. Unfortunately, in order to access that central machine, the terminals need to be able to connect to it, and that means you do need a full fledged computer of some kind, running a full fledged operating system.

However, they do not need to be full-size full-spec desktop PCs, although since you're using Windows, you unfortunately need somewhat beefier hardware than if you were using some X11/Unix based system. As long as they can run WinXP comfortably, they'll work, so you could easily plop down some older Pentium III machines with, say, 256/384 MB of RAM (more if you don't turn off the graphical theme crap) and small hard drives, like 4-10 GB or so (WinXP seems to take ~1-3 GB for a fresh install).

And specs/cost aside, you can also get physically smaller machines. If your monitors are still CRTs instead of LCDs, you could get desktop form-factor computers, which can sit under the monitor and take up almost no extra space than the monitor itself does. This can be done with LCDs too, depending on the LCD's base. Alternately you can go with the "small form factor" machines out these days, such as Shuttles/Arias/Mac mini knockoffs/etc. They have a much smaller desk/floor footprint than your average tower.


At the end of the day, if you just want two or three shared terminals for this, I think you'd be better off just buying some used or cheap regular PCs (again, if space is a problem, you don't have to get towers for all of them) since you will need to shell out extra money and time to set up Windows Server, and I don't think that'd be worth it unless you had four or more people needing to share the system.
posted by cyrusdogstar at 7:23 AM on September 25, 2006

I've looked into this a couple of times, and the answer is always laptops+docks.
posted by bonaldi at 7:48 AM on September 25, 2006

I don't have much detail, hopefully someone can expand and elaborate on this, but I know it can be done with linux ( I read a tutorial on how to do it a long long time ago). It's a big jump to make though if you're currently on xp.
posted by spark at 8:21 AM on September 25, 2006

Spark, you're probably thinking about the Linux Terminal Server Project. I didn't even bother suggesting it since I doubt the OP wants to switch to Linux :)
posted by cyrusdogstar at 8:29 AM on September 25, 2006

As long as they can run WinXP comfortably, they'll work.

You could use any OS that has a Terminal Services Client available for it for the workstations. Including a Windows or a Linux live CD.
posted by ed\26h at 8:33 AM on September 25, 2006

i must clear something up here: i'm not nor will ever be a xp user
-osx forever- but i was doing some brainstorming on installing a computer system at my parents new house. anywho, thanks for the ideas, i think i'll be looking into the linux or windows servers for this. i'm sure i'll be back with more questions...
posted by localhuman at 8:58 AM on September 25, 2006

You don't need Windows Server to have multiple simultaneous Terminal Services logins; you just need XP Pro SP2 and this patch, present in the SP2 beta but removed before GA. I'm running this at home, and it works without a hitch.
posted by mendel at 10:06 AM on September 25, 2006

Wicked cool.
posted by ed\26h at 10:32 AM on September 25, 2006

I recently came across Hubster for Linux. Unfortunately, it requires some proprietary hardware.

Here is a twisted idea for using it with windows. Set up a multi headed linux box with Hubster. Also set up a multi user windows box using terminal server (or a hack thereof). Use the multi-headed linux box to access the windows terminal server using linux Remote Desktop clients.

For added fun, you could probably do this all on a single computer if you used something like VMware to host the windows system inside a virtual machine on the linux box.
posted by Good Brain at 11:42 AM on September 25, 2006

This system will do it using Windows XP or Win2K, without needing Windows Server. I used a previous version about six years ago to have five users simultaneously logged in to a Win98 computer (one PC with four 'buddies') without too much hassle.
posted by Tawita at 3:44 PM on September 25, 2006