Alternatives to Terminal Services and Citrix?

[Gerry Voras]

The college I work for just inherited a large number of legacy machines.
Our normal setup is a win2k pro package with office 2000, visual studio, and
lots of educational packages (depending on department).

I'd like to use these old boxes for general student use using some sort of
terminal services, and make sure IE and Office 2000 are available. However,
getting the server license (either a Win2k Server with TermServices enabled
or a Citrix box) is going to be tough budgetwise, and getting TS CALs is
going to be near impossible (I have enough licenses for Pro, Office, and
everything else I need if I were to deploy on modern equipment instead of
legacy, but of course I can't buy any modern stuff either.)

Anyhow, I'm looking for lower cost or freeware alternatives. I'd go with
K12 Linux, but running MS Office is a high requirement for the college and
several programs. I'm considering playing with Wine or some sort of
X-Windows emulation to run Office on, and I've even heard of the recent
development of CrossOver Office (and MS seems to be playing nice with that
group). I was wondering, though, if anybody else had other ideas or
products I should consider trying.

TIA

 

[Gerry Voras]

A little research says this might work for me --
http://www.thinsoftinc.com/products_winconserver_info.html -- any comments?

 

[Scubadiver]

Gerry,

We use a Win2K Server/Terminal Server (same box) and the WTS CAL's are free
with this release. Just activate the WTS License Server and it will hand
out permanent CAL's to your WTS clients, up to the maximum number of users
allowed by your Win2K Server license.

Trey

 

[Gerry Voras]

You got a link to confirm that? The information I have is that normal cals
come with my win2k pro licenses, but if I start to use TSCALs for the same
boxes (or more likely I'm going to use win95 with 32bit TS clients or a
freeware Linux RDP client), the TSCALs are going to cost me $100 apiece.

 

[Daeron]

[go here and you don't need to spend your time doing MICROS~1 book
keeping for them ...]

A Computer Lab with No Windows, Part I
C T Leung Feb 18 2004

An application of the Linux Terminal Server Project in Manitoba's
largest high school.

Sisler High school is the largest high school in Manitoba, with
approximately 1,600 students and 120 staff members on campus. The
school offers many computer courses at different levels, ranging from
computer programming and office skills to vocational subjects, such as
trouble-shooting personal computers, networking and advanced operating
systems ..

[..]

None of the workstations, or thin clients, has a hard drive. Linux and
X running on the workstation are downloaded from the server, and all
other programs, such as Netscape and OpenOffice.org, are running on
the central server. Adding or upgrading a piece of software is done on
the server. Once it is done, it is available to every user on the
network ...

http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=7418

 

[Gerry Voras]

LTSP and K12 are being considered, but the school's accredidation requires
complete MS look-and-feel.

"Scubadiver" <[email protected]> wrote in message

[go here and you don't need to spend your time doing MICROS~1 book
keeping for them ...]

A Computer Lab with No Windows, Part I
C T Leung Feb 18 2004

An application of the Linux Terminal Server Project in Manitoba's
largest high school.

Sisler High school is the largest high school in Manitoba, with
approximately 1,600 students and 120 staff members on campus. The
school offers many computer courses at different levels, ranging from
computer programming and office skills to vocational subjects, such as
trouble-shooting personal computers, networking and advanced operating
systems ..

[..]

None of the workstations, or thin clients, has a hard drive. Linux and
X running on the workstation are downloaded from the server, and all
other programs, such as Netscape and OpenOffice.org, are running on
the central server. Adding or upgrading a piece of software is done on
the server. Once it is done, it is available to every user on the
network ...

http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=7418

We use a Win2K Server/Terminal Server (same box) and the WTS CAL's are free
with this release. Just activate the WTS License Server and it will hand
out permanent CAL's to your WTS clients, up to the maximum number of users
allowed by your Win2K Server license.