RE: PXES 0.9, WYSE 5150SE, X nsc driver, screenartifacts

> Are you using PXE boot ?

Yes, I am pxe booting these terminals with dhcp, tftp, and syslinux/pxelinux.

A side affect is that most (all?) of our workstations can now also run
PXES, as they too are all PXE bootable.

> Are you planning to reflash those units ?

No I'm not.

> Have you seen PXES EE components (http://pxes.sf.net/enterprise) they
> would help you with this task.

I had a brief look there, I will have to check it out some more.

> Could you give me a brief list of pros and cons between Wyse Linux and
> PXES (this helps a lot to improve PXES) ?


Sure thing.

My #1 gripe with WYSE Linux v6 is that it seems impossible to start the X
server in XDMCP mode. It would seem the only way is to create an icon for
an XDMCP Session on the desktop. Double clicking this (Slowly) launches
Xnest connected to the specified xdmcp server.

Far too much work. I want users to be given the login screen, and to log
in immediately.

Also, in this mode, ALT+TAB takes you back to the WYSE Linux desktop. It
does NOT switch applications on the server!!

Also, in some graphics modes (like 1024x768) screen artifacts appeared,
although much worse than my earlier problem. These artifacts were much
worse than the black dots i experienced with PXES+nsc.

Next is WYSE's Rapport management software. I had heard great things about
this. Problem being, whenever i have tried to install Rapport on *my*
workstation to test, it breaks its own install, as well as torching the
SQL Server client tools already on my workstation. Fat chance I'm going to
load it on a Production server! I guess this is not really related to the
terminal itself.. But it leads on to my next point.

In WYSE Linux v6, it seems the only way to manage units is with Rapport.
Older WYSE terminals had a (albeit clunky) web based interface for
configuration. Without Windows and Rapport, you cant do a hell of a lot.

Other than this, one can manually publish "ini-style" files to an FTP
server. Terminals can download this configuration data on boot and apply
it. Note that I said FTP, not tftp. However, if you install Rapport, it
insists that you install Microsoft IIS FTP Server and use that as your
server.

I think PXES' method of retrieving configuration via tftp is awesome. I
also read PXES 1.0 will pull said configuration from DHCP by use of DHCP
options.

I really wish i could be more critical of PXES here; I assume thats what
you want me to do. Unfortunately PXES just works, and well!

Anyway, I had better stop emailing and go and do some more work.

Cheers,

Dan


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