http://wiki.freegeek.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Diskless_Terminal 2026-04-21T17:20:10Z Revision history for this page on the wiki MediaWiki 1.35.1 http://wiki.freegeek.org/index.php?title=Diskless_Terminal&diff=19049&oldid=prev 2006-03-22T19:45:41Z

<p></p> <p><b>New page</b></p><div>Diskless terminals are one of the kinds of system Free Geek produces.<br /> <br /> == what is it ==<br /> Diskless terminals are PCs that will NOT FUNCTION on their own, but require a server to boot from.<br /> <br /> A specialized network interface card (NIC) is used to boot the system over a local area network (LAN). The diskless terminal looks for a server on the LAN to provide an operating system.<br /> <br /> == why use them ==<br /> Diskless terminals, on a fast computer network and with a reasonably powerful server, offer excellent performance for most common tasks: browsing the web, composing office documents, printing, etc. They do this without the need for a hard drive (that&#039;s the &quot;diskless&quot; part) or a fast processor (since most processing is done by the server.)<br /> <br /> This offers several advantages:<br /> * some cost savings, from not needing to install a hard drive, or a fast processor.<br /> * the hard drive is a component that fails more often than others; so diskless terminals are more reliable, at least in that respect.<br /> * Disk drives consume more power than other components, so there is some energy savings as well.<br /> * Because all files, programs, and even the operating system is stored on a centralized server, administration of a small office incorporating several diskless terminals is easier.<br /> <br /> == who gets em ==<br /> Diskless terminals are heavily used in Free Geek&#039;s [[Infrastructure]]. They are also commonly given out as hardware grants to other nonprofit organizations.<br /> <br /> == software ==<br /> Lessdisks is Free Geek&#039;s homegrown software that makes diskless terminals possible. (Thanks, Vagrant!)<br /> <br /> LTSP is a similar piece of software, which is part of the Debian distribution. Vagrant has turned his attention to merging his ideas into LTSP, rather than maintain a separate project. Ah, the beauty of [[free software]].<br /> <br /> == links ==<br /> * [[Lessdisks Class]]<br /> * [[Diskless Terminal Triage]]<br /> <br /> [[Category:Build]]</div>

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