On 6/4/25 18:14, white-wolf wrote:
Dear Debian Users,
I hope this message finds you well.
I am looking to set up a system using my Dell Latitude E4300 as a thin
client connected to an OVH VPS to create a decentralized desktop
environment. My Dell no longer has enough power to run Debian/Linux
with GNOME effectively, and instead of purchasing a new computer, I
would prefer to utilize a server for heavy computations and operations
while using the Dell as a thin client for the user interface. I have a
fiber optic connection and plan to connect via Wi-Fi.
I would appreciate any advice on how to properly size my VPS for this
setup and if there are any tutorials or guides available for
configuring such a system. Everything will be running on Debian/Linux
stable.
Thank you in advance for your help and suggestions.
Best regards,
White Wolf
"Thin client" is a network architecture where the server and client are
on the same LAN. When you power up the client, it finds the server,
downloads a bootloader, and boots. If you move the server to a virtual
private server (VPS), you will need a "thick client" network
architecture where the client has an OS, SSH, and X. You enable X
forwarding on the server, create an SSH connection with X forwarding
from the client to the server, run X programs on the server, and the X
programs display on the client:
https://reintech.io/blog/configuring-x11-forwarding-over-ssh-debian-12
That said, client-server systems rarely provide a satisfying interactive
user experience. The issue is latency -- long latency is annoying and
unpredictable latency is maddening.
(The same comment applies to Wi-Fi. Use a wired connection, if possible.)
And, VPS's get expensive quickly. Take a look at the price of a
"Dedicated CPU Plan" equivalent of an entry-level workstation with a
quad-core processor, 8 GB RAM, and 160 GB of storage:
https://www.linode.com/pricing/
At $73/month, you could pay off a used workstation in a few months:
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=dell+precision+xeon+8gb+ssd
Finally -- if you want to do "heavy computations and operations" in the
cloud, also take a look at Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2):
https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/
David
