On Thu, Jun 5, 2025 at 6:25 AM white-wolf wrote: > > Hi, > > Apparently, the era of the Minitel is truly over... > 200€ for an acceptable machine, it's clear that given the price of VPS, > my idea is not profitable... > > Another question, how can I offer a managed IT services for > individuals, more or less on a large scale? That is, adding programs, > updates, security, etc... and everything that the average user doesn't > know or doesn't want to do... > > This way, the end user can focus on using their computer rather than > its maintenance and operation.
Are you going to be supplying something like an OpenWrt device already configured to VPN into your system to make client PCs act like they're on the same LAN? Otherwise it seems to me that 'the average user' is going to have to be involved with the maintenance and operation of their PC. > > 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. I'd say that it depends on the connection type. If I visit a web site located in Germany (I'm east coast US) the response is fine. I used to regularly ssh into routers on the west coast US and again, the response was fine. Using scp to update router software cross-country was also fine .. after bumping up the tcp window size. (cisco defaulted to an absurdly small window) On the other hand, when X11 servers were moved from the building the users were in to a server farm about 3ms away the users were _screaming_. > > "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. Your clients aren't going to be on the same lan, so how do you supply a fully-patched OS to the clients? > > 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. How do you update the "thick client"? It seems like it's going to have to involve the end-user .. which is what you're trying to get away from? Regards, Lee > > Best regards, > White-Wolf > > On Thu, 2025-06-05 at 00:16 -0700, David Christensen wrote: > > 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 > > >
