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Re: [school-discuss] Ubiquity



FreeNX has persistence and beats the pants off VNC. IMHO, as servers
gain more horsepower, there's the chance that X on ltsp is superseded by
freenx on ltsp (ie the ltsp client booting not into an X session but an
freenx). It could be done now, of course, but X scales better (it takes
a bit of server resources for the nx compression).

VNC will get you a desktop while FreeNX will let you use interactive
apps like Flash and childrens' programs without being dumbed down to 8
bit color.

While there are technical differences, the best way to describe FreeNX
is: VNC on steroids.

Java isn't ubiquitous enough (or efficient enough) for even normal web
apps which is why so much is written (this is my speculation) in
Javascript and Flash. 

regards,
William
On Fri, 2006-10-13 at 06:11 -0700, lee wrote:
> 
> ... or "Delivering consistent application experiences everywhere."
> 
> Questions:
> 
> ... Does LTSP have a VNC Java browser client? 
> 
> ... Is there a way to key sessions to users in LTSP so the session is
> persistent? That is, if a LTSP terminal bombs (VNC, PLE-bootable,
> etc.) can a user log back into the same  X session?
> 
> I ask b/c I've just taken a 2nd look @ VNC. VNC has long had a Java
> applet component pushed from the VNC server & w/ VNC, the X desktop is
> persistent.
> 
> Which brings up another question: How restrictive is Java
> availability? Would it be reasonable to expect a reasonably-young
> version of Java to be available on 95% of the browsers a student might
> run into?
> 
> WRT to security, UltraVNC has been around for 3-4 years w/ some very
> interesting VNC-oriented SSL & VPN-ish tools available (hmmm, & maybe
> some of which might have their own compression functions like ssh...).
> The bandwidth issue is less a concern in the USA, and the various VNC
> projects have done a lot to compress packets. 
> 
> I hope I don't come across as too dismissive of the bootable CD ... or
> the VPN USB portable apps ... they have their place, but I'm trying to
> evaluate where they'll have their limitations when restrictive
> environments. Each solution -- AJaX (fat, slow), SimDesk
> (proprietary), VNC/persistent LTSP, CD-bootable & USB-portable ... all
> these are going to have limitations. 
> 
> Maybe each solution is penultimate and what is needed is a functional
> suite of all three to create the perfect solution.. Taking Chris'
> idea, a bootable USB stick with a sync / temporary working file space
> in case the VPN component isn't available. The USB/CD-bootable distro
> will deliver more power & better integration & be a good way to VPN to
> a host school. 
> 
> I'm thinking about how web services have attained ubiquity and what
> toolsets will help a student (or any user) to have reliable,
> consistent tools wherever they go, with or without $100 laptops, etc. 
> 
> FWIW ... seven years ago I was running the VNC Java server from
> multiple X Deskops (using FVWM2) & having a grand time admin'ing AIX
> databases using Linux as a persistent client. At the time it was a bit
> costly in terms of CPU, and the Java screen rendering routines were
> still a bit rough around the edges
> 
> /lee
> 
> 
> 
> ======
> /lee
> +-----------------------------------+
> | This concludes our broadcast day |
> +-----------------------------------+