Thinclient with rdesktop

[travisrthompson]

I just finished doing a proof of concept to see if using a RBP as a thinclient was reasonable, and it looks like it actually isn't bad. Here's my blog post for those interested:

http://www.dev-random.me/raspberrypi-thinclient/

I'd be happy to answer and questions or post more information about what I did (nothing really groundbreaking / out of the ordinary).

[JeremyF]

Cool! I'm working on a similar thing right now, but I discovered (through another forum member) that Debian/Raspbian have Openbox preinstalled (a DE which is much lighter than LXDE)

You can start it with

Code: Select all

xinit /usr/bin/openbox-session

[JeremyF]

Cool! I'm working on a similar thing right now, but I discovered (through another forum member) that Debian/Raspbian have Openbox preinstalled (a DE which is much lighter than LXDE)

You can start it with

Code: Select all

xinit /usr/bin/openbox-session

Sorry! Missed the fact you were running Arch! Openbox still applies but it's not pre installed.

[travisrthompson]

Yeah Openbox is nice, but I didn't want to run a WM at all, so that's why I'm calling rdesktop directly. My RBP only uses ~40mb of ram with X11 running, which is nice. Only down side is once I disconnect from the remote session, X quits and drops me back to the console. Not perfect, but works

[JeremyF]

Could you give more detailed instructions on running X without a WM?

[kohonen]

how about audio?
how about browser scrolling? (nhl.com for example)
is the font smooth?
is it acceptable? my experience is negative.

[travisrthompson]

Could you give more detailed instructions on running X without a WM?

In your home directory (I'm using root, so for me /root) you can create a file called ".xinitrc". I'm not sure how debian does this, but by default X11 on Arch exec's this file when X11 is starting, so I just put my exec command in there to run rdesktop fullscreen:

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exec rdesktop -f -k en-us -r sound -a 16 -x lan win7vm.butters.co

More about .xinitrc:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xinitrc

[travisrthompson]

how about audio?

I breifly tried some more last night, but couldn't get it work, but it looks like rdesktop has audio working but the actual audio on my RBP isn't working right. I think this is because the monitor I'm using doesn't have audio on it, just HDMI in, so the analog audio jack on my RBP is turned off because I'm using HDMI. I'm planning on trying it on my TV, just haven't done it yet.

how about browser scrolling? (nhl.com for example)

Browser scrolling can be painful on a graphically intense site, though it's definitely tolerable. I'm uploading a video to youtube as I type this, but DSL isn't the fastest... I'll post when it's done.

is the font smooth?

The font is very smooth once things stop moving, there is noticeable refresh lag when moving windows around, etc.

is it acceptable? my experience is negative.

Overall I find the experience at least on par with other dedicated thinclients I've used over the years, and I've never used a thinclient that was able to do 1920x1200.

[travisrthompson]

Browsing nhl.com
http://youtu.be/zXVSs7CAy6c