Thin client terminal hardware problems

March 2, 2008 5:59 PM

I am looking to replace some thin-client terminals on our W2K Small Business server running terminal services over RDP. We haven't had much luck with our existing terminal hardware (Compucon Phoenix - the power supplies burn out far too often) so I am looking for something simple, hardy and (of course) not too expensive.

We have a 15-terminal, single location set up, connected to a single server running W2K SBS. We are situated in a developing country - hot, humid, dusty, with dirty power and extremely inquisitive ants, and little (if any) IT budget. We are happy with the server set-up (stable and running largely problem free for four years), but it is the terminals that are letting us down. The proprietary (?) power supplies for the Phoenix terminals give up the ghost on a regular basis, and I am sick of spending AU$150 each time to replace them (plus the hassle of having them shipped from Australia - no easy task). We currently have five terminals out of action, and I am weighing up whether we might be better off moving to different brand of terminal. Old technology is fine, but fewer moving parts might be better. Perhaps an external power supply (as for laptops) would be a good idea, so the terminal could be sealed to prevent ant and dust intrusion. Re-purposing old PCs might be a short-term option, but they are likely to have much greater issues with component failure.

I am not an IT person, although I am (unfortunately) the IT person. I assume (hopefully correctly) that it is okay to mix-and-match a different brand of terminal with our existing set-up. We have little money to spend.

Any assistance/suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

posted by Tawita to computers & internet (4 comments total)

Check out the ThinStation linux distro. It should be able to turn commodity PC hardware into what you need. Probably can even get away booting off a thumb drive or cdrom and going diskless -- though I haven't read the docs to be certain of that.
posted by roue at 8:11 PM on March 2

I recommend roue's solution. Is there anyway you can harden where the server is? Say buy a lot of these cheap rack servers. Put two nics in them and run a KVM over the ethernet. There might be a better, more fancy way of doing this, but it is the best solution I would have off the top of my head.

I am thinking you'd go along way to getting more use out of your hardware if you can consolidate it into an enclosure. This isn't cheap to begin with and I don't how or where you're running your server, but it would seem like it would be easier to isolate and cool a small rack than it would be to have any hardware outside of it in these terrible conditions.
posted by geoff. at 9:13 PM on March 2

ThinStation is probably the way to go, with PC prices being what they are these days. You can probably get a second hand office PC for the price of one of those Phoenix power supplies, and if you're part of an NGO or educational institution, there are charities that will happily send a few of those retired boxes your way gratis.

Still, if you're looking for a vendor-supported dedicated piece of hardware, there are numerous Linux-based and Windows-based options out there, all of which will run RDP out of the box.
posted by Slap*Happy at 11:03 PM on March 2

I'm betting you can just graft the Phoenix plug onto a much more robust power supply. Or a regular PC supply, though you'd have to build an enclosure for it, could probably power a half dozen Phoenixes through a custom distribution panel and cord. Got a local electronics geek?
posted by Myself at 10:33 AM on March 3