Best Small Linux Distribution for rDesktop

Question

What would be the best linux distribution to use just for the purpose of rDesktop?

We're trying to decide if we should get rid of old computers or just use them as thin-clients to connect to virtual Windows 7 machines on our network.

I would like something with as little bloat as possible and can be run from a USB flash drive. I have tried SliTaz, ThinStation, and Pixil from Century Software. SliTaz has been my favorite so far but I still want to know if there's something better that's also easily customizable.

Solution 1

Check out Thinstation. I've used it in the past to create a CD bootable version for use in machines without hard drives. It's worth mentioning that I've come across two distinctly different systems with the name Thinstation.

Solution 2

I'd recommend having a look at Puppy - in addition to having a very small footprint and supporting multiple boot media, the developers publish lots of information about creating customized boot images. Note that you may have to install a developer puppy (or other Linux) to compile xrdp on (I don't think its comes as a standard package).

Do have a look at the Linux Terminal Server project too.

Solution 3

Any of the major Linux distributions will have rdesktop as an available package, but if you don't have a lot of Linux experience, Ubuntu will probably be the easiest to install and provide the widest compatibility with hardware. You will just need to install grdesktop:

sudo apt-get install grdesktop

Then you can easily connect to the Windows box.

Solution 4

Hello just try tiny core linux

http://www.tinycorelinux.com/install.html

It contains tightvnc viewer that might help it may take some time to understand it but it contains all most all the s/w

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Comments

[Zoredache]

Why run from a USB flash drive, and not PXE boot? Perhaps LTSP would be a good option?