Re: [gentoo-user] Multiseat -- LTSP?

[Grant]

>> I'd like to have multiple users working from separate monitors,
>> keyboards, and mice, but all connected to a single Gentoo computer.
>> The main purpose is to minimize sys admin duties but hardware and
>> power requirements would also be minimized.
>>
>> Apparently this is called "multiseat" and native support in Xorg might
>> not be ready for primetime:
>>
>> http://wiki.x.org/wiki/Development/Documentation/Multiseat
>> http://vignatti.wordpress.com/2008/09/23/multiseat-roadmap
>>
>> There is a configuration tool for Xorg multiseat called MDM:
>>
>> http://wiki.c3sl.ufpr.br/multiseat/index.php/Mdm
>>
>> but from what I've read it isn't ideal.  Besides Xorg multiseat I've
>> read about LTSP and a few others:
>>
>> http://www.ltsp.org
>> http://www.thinstation.org
>> http://automseat.sourceforge.net
>> http://www.openthinclient.org
>>
>> There are also a lot of proprietary options.  Is LTSP the way to go?
>
> It may be, but as with all thin client models you would need a terminal
> computer for each user.
>
> If you only have one machine and monitors, keyboards and mice for each user
> then you'll need multiple video cards (and a strong power supply) for your
> only PC.  In this case something like http://automseat.sourceforge.net may be
> more appropriate.  However, I have not used anything like this set up to offer
> an opinion on performance.
>
> At work we use thin clients running Debian to serve MSWindows server desktop
> and apps to users.  This setup uses the Citrix ica protocol, but I'm thinking
> that FreeNX coupled with VNC or relevant KDE or Gnome remote desktop
> implementation would probably work nicely and offer LAN and remote connection
> security at the same time.
> --
> Regards,
> Mick

If I throw out installing a separate OS on a separate machine for each
workstation and all of the proprietary thin-client protocols, I think
I have 3 options:

1. Connect monitors, USB keyboards, and USB mice directly to a server
with multiple video cards.  I found a motherboard with 6 PCI-E slots:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128508

6 video cards could be installed for 6 workstations if the server goes
headless, and even more if multi-headed video cards are used.  Xorg
requires some special configuration for this but this discussion from
2010 sounds like it's something that is actually done:

http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-836950-start-0.html

These guys got it working in 2006:

http://www.linuxgazette.net/124/smith.html

2. Set up a separate thin client for each workstation and run LTSP on
the server.  This seems inferior to #1 because it requires setting up
and maintaining the LTSP server and client configuration, NFS, xinetd,
tftp, dnsmasq, and PXE-boot.  Bandwidth would also be limited compared
to #1 and hardware and power requirements would be much greater.

3. Run a Plugable thin client for each workstation:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004PXPPNA

This likely requires running "Userful Multiseat Linux" on my server
which is only packaged up for Ubuntu.  The Plugable thin client
connects to the server via USB 2.0 which makes me wonder if it could
be made to work without Userful Multiseat Linux as a USB video card
and input devices, but I imagine drivers for the video card and
bandwidth over USB could be a problem.

I think #1 is the way to go but I'd love to hear anyone else's opinion
on that.  Has anyone here ever set up multiseat in Xorg?

- Grant