The office my wife works at uses dumb terminals. At least that's what she says. I know that a majority of the info on the individual pc's comes from the server but I'm not sure if there is anything actually installed on the client machines.
With that in mind, will Portable Apps run on a Windows based dumb terminal? Or will there have to be an OS installed on the pc itself?
*EDIT* Portable Apps would be running off of a thumb drive.
[Topic clarified by Mod Tim]
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You would have to be able to plugin the usb drive into the main server. Somehow though I doubt they will let you do that because it's a potential source of viruses
iLike Macs, iPwn, However you put it... Apple is better ^_^
"Claiming that your operating system is the best in the world because more people use it is like saying McDonalds makes the best food in the world..."
Would you know of any other way for her to run personalized apps on the terminal then?
The easiest and safest way for her would be for you to buy her a $300US netbook. Then she could run whatever apps she wants and the company wouldn't fire her for using their equipment for personal business.
BTW Dumb terminals don't have USB ports.
Ed
If it's not just a dumb client, and is actually a thin client, yes they do. And most of them will allow use of a thumbdrive to access documents/etc, so it should, in theory, work without issue, as long as it's still a windows based distro instead of some proprietary thin client/Novell distro.
We used to have them in school and I did a job shadow with the IT dept there so.
Ok, thanks for the info. She does have usb ports so I guess it's a thin client. She keeps calling it a dumb terminal but I thought something was kinda strange about that considering she uses the usb ports to charge her mp3 player.
It's a small office and very relaxed. She can browse, check mail and pretty much whatever she wants. There aren't any real security issues. But there was a recent issue where someone received a virus through their email. But if Portable Apps can be used it could prevent that from happening again. At least on a personal level. Work email would still be screwed
Does anybody really use "dumb terminals" any more? I thought those went out the window with Dolly Parton, Working 9 to 5, in the 80s. I suspect it's just a locked-down PC, in which case the answer is maybe.
As with any advice when trying to circumvent an employer's security/system architecture setup, do so at your own risk. Some employer's really don't take too kindly to you trying to deliberately bypass those systems and procedures they have put in place.
is called the dumb terminal of the 80ties today. It has computing power, thought operating system is virtual, the apps are virtual, the data are virtual....
Yes this works well. And since during the operation, when the user sees the virtual operating system, and this happens to be windows, then yes portable apps run on it , no problem, provided the admin does not block this and that.
The windows itself is then shared by number of coworkers, the personal profiles are stored in other place on the server and the server does merge the profile with the copy of the OS life for each user.
The same happens with all the apps. They are kind of portabilized and then also the personal profile of each user is merged with the single copy of the apps provided on the server.
Those thin clients have actually some basic operating system in it, but it is often nothing we know and any apps exist for. It is neither windows nor linux nor any other common thing. It is often proprietary very basic system, which then loads the needed files from the network.
Such computer might be a metal cube of abt 10x10x10cm, it has connection for display, for keyboard an mouse, LAN, usb, some sort of external powersupply.
Those I have seen here in operation, have nice shiny top surface, this is quite warm and can accommodate cup of coffee and keep it warm.
But for the user it apperas as he is running windows, and if usb is not blocked, it can read the usb port and will do with it what ever you ask it to do.
And when the user switches the thing off, the copy of the operating system is unchanged still stored at the server, the apps too, the portable apps do waht you ask them on the stick and the personal data and variables of the user and apps provided on the server are copied to other safe position on the 'variables' server.
This is BTW why VMware did invest lot of money and did buy the Thinapp thing. Not for producing some illegal copies of this and that, but producing such big IT infrastructures.
Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland
I'm sold! Anything that can compute and warm my coffee is total awesome.
Too many lonely hearts in the real world
Too many bridges you can burn
Too many tables you can't turn
Don't wanna live my life in the real world
I have a stainless go-cup that plugs into a USB port? Offers?
(Actually, I can't sell it, it was a gift from my students.)
I am not my signature.
It's not like you are spending money on these things. Plug it in and see if it works. If you think your wife could possibly get in trouble, just ask somebody. What could be simpler?
Yeah but what if his wife works for Cyberdyne Systems and the act of plugging in a simple USB drive is the key to bringing Skynet online? We'll all be doomed!
Ed
You think we're not?
I am not my signature.