[Samba] windows terminal server

[Kurt Pfeifle]

Alexander Saers alex at saers.com wrote on Samba-Digest:

> Thu Apr 3 23:33:50 GMT 2003
> 
> 
> Hello
> 
> I have a wounderfull linux/samba server running as pdc for a network.
> Now to the thing. I would like to add remotedesktop capabilites so that
> users outside could login to the system and get their desktop up from
> home or another country..
> 
> Is there a way to acomplish this. Do i need a windows terminal server
> and do i need to configure it so that it is a member of the domain or a
> bdc,pdc??? Is there any hacks for winxp to enable remot login even if
> the computer is in a domain?
> 
> Any idees/experience would be nice :)

You want to look at the new offer of NoMachine, the "NX" software:

    http://www.nomachine.com/

It implements a very easy-to-use interface to the remote X protocol as
well as incorporating VNC/RFB and rdesktop/RDP into it, but at a speed
performance much better than anything you may have ever seen in the form
of native TightVNC or rdesktop or remote X.

Remote X is not new at all -- but what they did achieve successfully is
a new way of compression and caching technologies which makes the thing
fast enough to run even over slow modem/ISDN connections.

I could testdrive their (public) RedHat machine in Italy, over a loaded
internet connection, with enabled thumbnail previews in KDE konqueror
which popped up immediately on "mouse-over". From inside that (remote X)
session I started a rdesktop session on another, a Windows XP machine.
To test the performance, I played Pinball. I am proud to announce here
that my score was 631750 points at first try -- I couldn't have achieve
this over a bad performing "rdesktop embedded in remote X" connection.
(Of course, I could also have connected directly to the Windows XP box
using NX).

NX for me performs better in my local LAN than any of the other "pure"
connection methods I am using from time to time: TightVNC, rdesktop or
remote X. It is even faster than a direct crosslink connection between
two nodes.

I even got sound playing from the remote X app to my local boxes, and
had a working "copy'n'paste" from an NX  window (running a KDE session
in Italy) to my Mozilla mailing agent... These guys are certainly doing
something right!

I recommend to testdrive NX to anybody with a only a remote interest
in remote computing

     http://www.nomachine.com/testdrive.php

Just download the free of charge client software (available for RedHat,
SuSE, Debian and Windows) and be up and running within 5 minutes (they
need to send you your account data, though, because you are assigned
a real Unix account on their testdrive.nomachine.com box.....

I think they will be able to compete against Citrix and Microsoft with
their RDP performance. I don't have figures, but deepest impressed I am
about their X performance, which is really, really worth a try.

They plan to get to the point were you can have NX application servers
running as a cluster of nodes,and users simply start an NX session locally,
and can select applications to run transparently (apps may even run on
another NX node, but pretend to be on the same as used for initial login,
because it displays in the same window.... well, you also can run it
fullscreen, and after a short time you forget that it is a remote session
at all).

Now the best thing at the end: all the core compression and caching
technologies are released under the GPL and available as source code
to anybody who wants to build on it! These technolgies are working,
albeit started from the commandline only (and very inconvenient to
use in order to get a fully running remote X session up and running....)

To answer your questions:

* you don't need to install a terminal server; XP has RDP support built
   in.

* NX is much cheaper than Citrix -- and comparable in performance,
   probably faster

* You don't need to hack XP -- it just works

* You log into the XP box from remote transparently (and I think there
   is no need to change anything to get a connection, even if
   authentication is against a domain...)

* The NX core technologies are all Open Source and released under
   the GPL -- you can today use a (very inconvenient) commandline
   to use it at no cost, but you can buy a comfortable (proprietary)
   NX GUI frontend for money

* NoMachine are encouraging and offering help to OSS/Free Software
   implementations for such a frontend too, even if it means competition
   to them (they have written to this effect even to the LTSP, KDE and
   GNOME developer mailing lists)

> /Alexander 
> 

Cheers,
Kurt