Terminal Services Client

[nclark]

Is there a client that would enable me to access Windows 2000 servers using terminal services? I have tried VNC and find it dreadfully slow and unreliable, and we are not installing VNC on the new servers anyway.

TIA

[diem]

Are you after a full Windows desktop? If so any solution will be v. slow. If Terminal Services supports text sessions then there are a number of very good terminal emulation progs out there:

MindTerm (freeware, Java)
Hermes (freeware)

and Mochasoft do some very good and not too expensive software on these lines.

[nclark]

I'm after the equivalent of the terminal services thin client for windows or PocketPC. I think it's modelled on the Citrix client. It shouldn't be too slow as most of the work is done on the server, and only the screen stuff is sent over the ethernet link. It works well on the PPC (Ipaq) except for the small screen.

I'm currently using a Series 7, but am able to make a connection to the network via a Clarinet IR access point, which works but is slower than a proper ethernet connection. I want to test a solution using this before deciding whether to upgrade to a netbook with a full WiFi or wired ethernet connection.

Thanks.

[diem]

I getcha.

Shame you're not using Citrix, because there is a Citrix client for netBook.

In general, there is very little M$-friendly software for Psion computers. Its kind of a double-edged sword, because on the one hand we are proud to be de-Microsofting our lives (that' why we buy netBook not an HPC), but on the other we want interoperability so as to have ease of use with the remaining M$ software we use :rolleyes:

[nclark]

We're using the M$ version as it comes free with W2K. The Citrix client may work as the M$ stuff was originally developed from it. Is the Citrix client freely available, or is it sold as a system?

[Crazed_Monkfish]

Freely available - just go to www.citrix.com and find the downloads page :)

I'm looking forward to getting a wifi card (if any work with my psion 7 + personality mod (when it arrives)), with citrix it could prove very useful at work - which seems to mostly be wondering around troubleshooting people connected to citrix atm!

If I get a chance I'll try the suggestion of terminal services over the citrix software and report back ;)

[fladda]

Collegue at work has a Psion 7 fitted with a Netbook operating system card. My Lucent Orinoco Silver 802.11b WiFi card appears to work fine in my collegue's Series 7.

Note that the Lucent Orinoco was rebadged by *lots* of other manufacturers, including the likes of Dell and Compaq. Lucent span-off their business into several different companies, several of which continue to produce the Orinoco under different names.

Easiest way of checking whether an old OEM 802.11b card is really an Orinoco, is to check the FCC ID: number if there is one. My Lucent Orinoco Silver Wavelan card is FCC ID: IMRWLPCE24H.
I purchased this from the USA via ebay.

Ralph

[MikeW]

You can access any Windows 2000 Terminal Server or server farm, using the Citrix ICA client via rLAN, Ethernet, modem & serial (Mocha or DSlink). Citrix client/manager is available from the Citrix werb site, its beta but has always worked for me.

I have this working from Psion 5mx using DSlink & from Netbook using lastest Psion Gold 10/100 Ethernet card.

Performance is reasonable especially if you have a fast Ethernet connection, it does tend to slow down more than most devices if the network is busy.

You dont see too much when using the Psion 5mx screen, just 2 lines of an Excel spreadsheet, unless you remove some of the toolbars.

[spegru]

For the (fairly) uninitiated, could someone on this thread explain more clearly, what these Client Services & Citrix things are, how they works, what is required to make them work - and where to get such for Psion.

Asking quite alot I know!

rgds

spegru

[diem]

Have you ever seen VNC or PC Anywhere running? Y'know, where you get the complete desktop of a PC shown and controllable within a window on another PC at a different location? Windows Terminal Services is basically the same thing, only implemented at a more 'Windows-native' level.

Citrix are the market leaders in this kind of technology, the concept being that you can have a relatively dumb terminal computer, running Windows or Unix or whatever via a Citrix client.

The Citrix client for EPOC is downloadable for free from their site (don't know the exact URL), and Terminal Services is included in Windows 2000 (and XP?).

As far as configuration goes, I've no idea. Anyone?

[MikeW]

Hope the information shown below helps explain, you need to have Windows Terminal Services in place before going down this route, if so download the client & ask your IT department to do the rest.

Windows Terminal Services work differently to a normal PC

All the processing happens on a server, which sends the screen display to a thin client and receives keybaord & mouse clicks from the client. This works very well particularly over comparitivly slow links, say 64k.

If you don't have a dedicated server then you can't use these facilities.

Servers come in a number of forms, originally they were supplied by Citrix working with Windows NT server operating system, then Microsoft did a deal with Citrix & brought its own versions out for Windows NT & 2000. Citrix now concentrate on providing extra functionality for these servers such as load balancing & automatic fallover.

Clients come in a number of flavours, the original Citrix & Microsoft's version of the Citrix client, most use the Citrix client. Clients can be dedicated terminals with built in client software or a PC running the client software, under a variety of operating systems, & of course there are thin clients for a number of PDAs.

The Citrix client can be downloaded from the Citrix web site for a number of platforms, The Psion version is in 2 parts, the manager & client, you configure the manager & user the client. Typical manager configuration involves setting up the server name, which maybe the name of a resilient cluster of servers & details of how you connect. You or your server administrator will also need to enable Citrix ICA communications as well as entering details of the client, so the server knows you as a valid client.

[spegru]

Thanks for that. I wasn't quite sure. I hvae used PC anywhere in the past (very good it was too).

One final Q though. If I have Citrix client for EPOC, am I correct to assume that I need a server one for (say) a windows PC and some kind of TCP/IP connection between the two?

spegru

[MikeW]

You would require a server dedicated to supporting ICA clients, it can't be used for anything else, it can load & save files to a virtual 'C' drive & thats about it.

The server can't perform the function of a PC and terminal server.

[MikeW]

You will need some kind of communications link between the client & server, it can be just about anything, I use Ethernet, serial via terminal server or desktop PC using DSlink/Mocha, dial-up modem & radio LAN.

[spegru]

Sorry, I'm confused about your comment "The server can't perform the function of a PC and terminal server."

On PC Anywhere you have a client side on the PC where you are, and a server side on the remote PC - enabling you to use the remote PC as if it were local, using a thin client that maps the screen and keyboard.

That would mean that you can use the remote PC as both server and PC

I'm probably being daft but PC Anywhere is th only system of this type that I have used

rgds

spegru

[MikeW]

spegru

You maybe able to do this with PC Anywhere, but you can't do it with Windows 2000 Terminal server, you have to have a dedicated server, and it needs to be reasonably powerfull.

MikeW

[nclark]

Terminal services can work on any Windows 2000 server as a remote management tool, but not (I don't think) as an application server. The remote management option does allow you to work as if logged directly onto the server though, but I would guess it restricts the number of connections. This is how I use it mostly, but unfortunately I haven't been able to get the Citrix client to work with it yet. The Terminal Services client that comes with PPC2002 works fine.

[MikeW]

You need to be clear on what you want to do:-

The Citrix (ICA) client is a thin client to run applications on a server, so you can run any Windows application from your Psion.

The remote management tool does just that, manages the server, so is only of use to people looking after servers. It is not intended to run applications.

The Windows 2000 terminal server is quite a complex bit of software, each user has to run independantly on the same server, each with their own drive C and registry entries.

[nclark]

What I want to be able to do is manage the servers from the Psion. I currently use it to configure the network switches and other equipment, and would like to connect to the servers too. I can use the Ipaq for this, but the Psion is so much better in terms of usability, not least because of its bigger screen and keyboard.

[MikeW]

The good news is that it is possible to manage Windows 2000 Terminal Servers with the Psion ICA client, the bad news is that its not free.

It will only work if you are also running Citrix on the server, which you have to purchase, however it does provide lots of other benefits. This provides the Citrix communications protocol on the server.

Just tried it

Load up Citrix ICA client on the Psion & connect to the terminal server.

Enter administrator username & password.

Right click on 'My Computer' & select manage option.

Hope this helps.

You can't undertake all the management tasks as some require PC software on the client, but you can undertake all the routine tasks such as managing user accounts etc.

Attached a screen dump from my Netbook.

Mike

[Davidish]

Mike, That looks very cool. (Your screen dump that is)

Is it vey fast on screen updates? And is it very stable?

I tried out VNC (JAVA version) on my netbook with a VNC server running on an iMac. IT worked after a fashion, but would very quickly crash both the iMac and the netbook, just while I was scrolling the screen. Oh, and the screen updating was ABYSMALLY slow. So I abandoned the whole arrangement.

wondering if it was just a VNC problem, or a general remote issue.

D

[MikeW]

I generally connect via a Psion Gold card 10/100 Ethernet card in my Netbook, performance appears to be dependant on network traffic as the Psion appears to slow down significantly when it has to ignore packets not intended for it. I found it significantly faster than VNC which was virtually unusable.

I have also used it with my Psion 5mx using the serial port, through DSlink running on the PC, which appears to gradually slow down, as does web browsing via this route.

[skearon]

To clarify

The client (downloaded from Citrix) will only work on Windows 2000 Servers if Citrix is also installed on the server?

i.e. it is not possible to use the client to connect to a Windows 2000 server just running Microsoft's terminal services?

[ehasbrouck]

There is a commercial Java Windows Terminal Services client for ER5:

HOBlink JWT (http://http://www.hobsoft.com/www_us/produkte/connect/jwt.htm)

Note that the standard "other platforms" Java version of the HOBLink JWT client for Windows Terminal Services will not work on the netBook. There is a customized distribution of the JWT client for EPOC 5 (the netBook OS), available as an ".sis" (EPOC installer) file, but it isn't available for download from the HOBLink JWT Web site. E-mail support@hoblink.de (mailto:support@hoblink.de) for a 30-day trial version for the EPOC version of HOBLink JWT. (Confusingly, HOB describes it as the "Symbian" version, but it's really for ER5.)

It's relatively expensive (USD140 per client license). I've tested it, and it does work, but it's slow and the user interface is awkward (especially if you need to emulate both left and right mouse buttons), so I can't recommend it unless access to Windows Terminal Services is essential.

If you don't know what Windows Terminal Services is, you probably don't need or want this.