Using Ubuntu as a thin client

Question

I'm kind of stuck with a problem I'm trying to solve. My company wants to go fully remote desktop services and eventually we will be using proper terminal hardware like Dell or HP, but as that's going to cost over £20,000 I'm looking at using Ubuntu as a thin client so we can spread the costs.

We have windows 2008 server, and that won't be able to change for the foreseeable future.

What I'm trying to do is that when the pc boots up it loads straight in to a RDP Client and lock out every other functionality so the user can only be in a remote session.

I've tried looking around and can't find any guides. I'm very noobish when it comes to Linux. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Solution

I've covered running a single application on a stripped down machine a few times on the site but I think the following is the pinnacle:

• How to install one GUI program on Ubuntu Server?

I was calling Boxee (a XBMC fork) at the end of the script but you could replace that with your command to start a RDP client. I'd suggest you install rdesktop and then on boot launch:

rdesktop -f <server-ip>

These are both in the Universe section of the repo so make sure your /etc/apt/sources.list contains a line like this:

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise universe
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise-security universe

Obviously, substitute precise for whatever version you're using. After they're added, run a sudo apt-get update and then you should be able to install nodm and openbox packages. You probably don't need openbox though as you're only running a single window.

Comments

[Joren]

You're gonna need Ubuntu Server: ubuntu.com/download/server

[david6]

What are your 'terminal' emulation requirements? Do you need multi-session, print queue, or tabs? What applications (local or remote) are you going to be used? (if 'bespoke' / custom, brief description)

[Oli]

I assume you're using the Microsoft definition of "Terminal" (now known as Remote Desktop Services) here. Most people here will interpret "terminal" as console or command line. You might want to clear up your jargon and explain what protocols you want to use to accomplish this (if you have them in mind already).

[Lee Gibson]

Hi, thanks for your replies guys. Yeah basically we have a Windows 2008 server running Windows 7 for the remote desktop sessions. At the moment we have a dell dumb terminal which uses it's own software to just connect to our server. I am looking in to a way we can cut down our costs by doing the same but with Ubuntu. I've found a way with XP but that will cost us money and with XP's support going to be cut off next year we need to use something else as we will fail our IT Audit. As far as I know I only need Ubuntu to connect, the rest of the settings will be handled by the server.

[Lee Gibson]

Hi Oli. Thanks for your awesome reply. I'm having some problems finding nodm and openbox when I try to apt-get install it. I've added extra repositories but still having problems.

[Oli]

@LeeGibson Edited. If you have further problems it might be worth opening a separate question about not being able to install those packages.

[AntonK]

"404: That file isn’t here anymore" :(