With the now presented version 2020. 2 of their thin client operating system, openthinclient GmbH cuts off old braids and says goodbye to 32 – bit platforms. In addition, the software was given the ability to boot over the network via UEFI-PXE even on newer hardware. The support for 30 – bit devices is not applicable, openthinclient 2020. 2 works exclusively on Intel-compatible 64 – bit thin clients or – PCs.

As a substructure, openthinclient uses a Debian 10 (Buster) on the, among other things, for the connection to the terminal server FreeRDP 2.2 and the Citrix client 2009 are available with plug-ins for Zoom and Teams. To work with older Windows servers up to 2008 there is RDesktop 1.8.6. In pure cloud environments, Chromium serves as a browser, Firefox has been removed by the manufacturer.

Central management included The software is available in two options. On the one hand as a server installation for central management of the thin clients with the Linux-based operating system. They are available either as an installer (Linux and Windows, each approx. 170 MByte) or as a virtual appliance (HyperV and VMare, 2, 7 or 2.9 GB). On the other hand, with the client-OS-on-a-Stick version, openthinclient has a live system in its portfolio that can only be installed on USB sticks. In addition to the OS and the apps already mentioned, this includes its local management. It can be used via the integrated OpenVPN in order to be able to securely access the company server from branches or from the home office with a thin client.

The openthinclient environment can be controlled via a clear management interface manage.

(Image: openthinclient)

The creation, booting and administration of a new thin client takes place via the central openthinclient management GUI within a few minutes. Depending on the configuration, the clients boot an adapted thin client operating system over the network or load it as an image from the USB stick. Typical server-based computing applications such as Citrix or RDP are then started. The thin client then accesses the virtual desktop and users can start their work. Settings such as user rights, approved applications, etc. are made via Citrix Workspace Environment Management or via the Terminal Server Manager.

Both The management server and the on-a-stick variants can be tried out free of charge – and without support. possible. For both you have to register and make a € 0 purchase, which is a bit cumbersome. The on-a-stick variant can be tried out 30 days, the management server can be used up to 49 Use clients permanently for free. The fee-based licenses start at 60 euros per year for openthinclient-on-a-stick.

(avr)