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Assorted thin clients

What's this site about?

It's about repurposing Thin Client hardware. If you don't know
exactly what a Thin Client is then you'll find the answer further on
down the page. In most cases the underlying hardware of a Thin Client
is actually a general purpose computer and can be reused and
reprogrammed to be something other than a Thin Client. This site
provides reasonably detailed information on various thin client
hardware I have had my hands on so that you can assess whether a
particular one can be tailored to meet your own needs.

When I first came across these devices I often found it difficult to
track down sufficiently detailed information on them to be able to
judge whether it was worth paying the asking price for the particular
model(s) on offer. I have made some mistakes along the way -
hopefully this site will save you from the same mistakes.

When I first created the site the primary question was `How easy it
is to get them to run an alternative operating system?'. These days
the answer to that is `simples' (in Meerkat speak - possibly lost on
those of you who don't see UK TV advertising). Now it's more about
how much RAM you can fit and how expandable the hardware is.

What's here is my own personal record of what I've done. Reasons for
putting it up on the website are twofold:

  * It makes me adequately(?) document what I did so I don't forget.
  * It may be useful to others and so is some return for the help
    I've received from other sites along the way.

If you have any observations/comments/complaints about what's here
feel free to email me.

There is a hardware summary page that lists the models I've had my
hands on. Clicking on any of them will bring up more details about
that particular model. On the main pages the various manufacturers
are listed on the left, and, clicking on any of the buttons will
bring up a list of those models of theirs that I have played with.
Clicking again on the manufacturers name may bring up some more
general information on that manufacturer.

More general information is available on the home page - which is
where you are now. For example the LINUX button will take you to a
section which covers some general observations about Linux on thin
clients and some specific stuff I've written about using Tiny Core
Linux.

What this site isn't

....a comprehensive list of all thin clients on the market, past and
present.

In January 2021 I came across a comment about the site that included
"He also haven't bought any recent hardware so an entire generation
of Igel and 2 generations of HP thin client hardware are missing."

That is correct. The site reflects a non commercial interest/hobby of
mine and covers thin clients I have bought cheaply from eBay. Over
the last 10 years the definition of 'cheap' has crept up from <PS10 to
maybe PS20. On the odd occasion I have been known to pay a little
more. The site is primarily about repurposing redundant (and hence
cheap) hardware. You are very unlikely to find any current generation
thin clients or their immediate predecessors listed here unless I've
managed to find a lucky bargain.

What is a Thin Client?

It is a physically small low-powered (both in terms of computing
power and electrical power consumption) computer. It has no
mechanical disk, no fan and has an operating system and a few basic
applications embedded in some flash memory along with some RAM. It's
been designed to effectively act as a terminal to a central server.
Usually the operating system is an embedded version of Windows -
starting with Windows CE thru to the latest version depending on the
age of the hardware - or Linux. The "applications" are usually
implementations for Windows Terminal Services (RDP) and Citrix ICA.

The concept behind them is for businesses to run all of their
applications on a central group of servers and have users remotely
log onto a desktop session on these servers to access their
applications and data. The advantages with this type of set-up are
centralised management and reduced hardware cost as users only need a
small, inexpensive client device (the thin terminal) instead of a
fully functional desktop computer.

Also, in my trawlings of the Web, I've come across one individual
with a largish family who has actually used them this way at home to
reduce his own personal IT budget!

Why might we be interested in them?

As they reach the end of their useful commercial life they end up for
sale in places like eBay where they sell (or not!) at prices between
0.99p and several hundred pounds depending on the age and
specification of the hardware and the aspirations of the seller. So
for not-a-lot of money you can pick up a small footprint computer
that you can potentially press into service in a way not envisaged by
the original manufacturer and along the way maybe have some fun
bending it to meet your requirements.

Most of the thin clients have a fairly standard PC architecture and
so readily lend themselves to be re-purposed.

Back in 2011 I wrote `However do remember that most of these are NOT
high powered devices so don't expect to use them for anything that
calls for large amounts of processor power or high speed graphics.'
Since then the market has moved on and these days (2019) the latest
models do have more powerful graphic chip sets. Similarly there are
now models with dual core and quad core CPUs, but they still adhere
to the philosophy of low power consumption.

What do they get used for?

A quick get-out is "Only limited by your imagination", but some
possibilities are:

  * A thin client(!) - but one you can customise. (See Linux Terminal
    Server Project)
  * Terminal for e-mail and web browsing.
  * Small Web Server. (HTTP, DHCP, ....)
  * Firewall (some models - most only have one ethernet port)
  * Wireless access point (with a USB Wireless adaptor)
  * PBX (see PBX in a flash)
  * An internet radio/music player.
  * Retro games machine running DOS or Windows 98.
  * CNC controller running LinuxCNC.
  * ....

One correspondent used one as a file transfer platform. He exchanged
lots of data with family on the other side of the world - usually
over night. By using a thin client rather than his PC he saved
significant electricity costs and, an important fact in the timing
mentioned earlier, it was totally silent (no fans).

In the past when they were young I set up an HP t5730 with XPe/IE7
for my grandchildren to use on the BBC cbeebies website. What ever
they end up doing could be fixed with a reboot. (Once up and running
any changes happen in RAM and vanish when the system is restarted).

In the early days of this site I used an unaltered HP t5700 running
XPe and Internet Explorer 6.0 to check the rendering of the pages on
this site. In mid 2010 14% of visitors were still using IE6. By May
2011 this dropped to 2%.

Over the years I've had one set up as a web server that has acted as
a mirror for this site and a couple of others that I looked after. As
I type this I'm editing the page on my local mirror. When I'm happy
with the text and also checked that the html is error free I'll
upload it to the public server.

My current mirror (2019) is running on a Wyse Dx0D and the 'How To'
for setting it up is written up here.

Descriptions of what I (or others) have done with thin clients often
appear in one of the tabs associated with the hardware that was used.
The more extensive write-ups (and any general ones) might appear in
the projects section or the Linux section.

As you'll see from the site I usually use Tiny Core Linux as my
preferred operating system with related articles here.

Power Consumption

When I first started playing with thin clients my main Windows
computer (a Shuttle XPC) was drawing 20W when it was off(!), and
140W-170W when it was running. By comparison thin clients, then and
now, draw at the most a few watts when off, and maybe ~10W-15W when
running. These are significant savings.

Recommendations

I occasionally get asked which Thin Client I would recommend. I find
the answer to that to be fairly simple but maybe not always helpful
to the person who asked the question. My response is generally:

 1. Unless you are a masochist avoid the early Wyse and Compaq thin
    clients - even if given one for free.
 2. Draw up a minimum specification for what your application needs.
 3. Have some idea of how much you are prepared to pay.
 4. Look on eBay to see what is currently available at what price.

To me it is the final point that's the key. It is what is currently
available and at what price. As we're looking at the second hand
market there are huge variations in value for money depending on who
is selling it, where they got it from and how much they want for it.
Some sellers specialise in recycling old IT kit which possibly gives
you a benchmark figure for the market price. With others the thin
clients may have turned up with a load of other stuff in an office
clearance. In the latter case they may not know exactly what they
are, it probably cost them next to nothing and they'd just like to
see it (or them) shifted out the door.

I would suggest that you do an eBay search based on your budget. Set
the upper price limit and then browse the results seeing what's
there, whether a power supply is included and how much flash and RAM
is fitted. If nothing suits then you'll either have to lower your
requirements, up your budget, or wait. In the past I've had to wait
maybe 6 months or so before a particular model I was interested in
appeared at the right price.

I had a recent email from somebody with a Wyse S10 that was lying
around that he had a specific application for. Unfortunately it was
the early model with limited RAM and so unsuited to the job. I'd got
a spare later model here, could up the amount of flash, up the amount
of RAM in it and post it to him. In the process I'd gain a little bit
of cash and reduce the clutter here at ParkyTowers. However a quick
glance on eBay showed he could get a Wyse Cx0 with 2GB of flash and
1GB of RAM for PS12 delivered so I pointed him at that. Checking again
as I write this I see something similar is ~PS23. Timing is
everything.

 
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Any comments? email me. Added pre 2010    Last update January 2021