Too many computers, can I use only one ?

Here is how I saved money ( and my sanity ), kept everyone in my family happy ( or, at least, not whining constantly ) and have fun in the same time ( Please note I am the type of person who is having fun when he is doing what he likes e.g. tinkering with computers )

There are 2 approaches here:

- you can give each user their own virtual machine whether Unix or Windows (your daughter might like Linux Fedora while your wife is comfortable with Windows 98 ) We will call this "The Unix way"

- you are using Windows applications exclusively

We will call this "The other way"

For "The Unix way" what you need is:

- one fast, mean and big computer I personally use a Sun Ultra 20 workstation with 4 GB RAM http://www.sun.com/desktop/workstation/ultra20/index.xml

- an OS that you are comfortable with whether Unix or Windows I found Unix to be more configurable and secure but, it works either way I use RedHat Enterprise 4

- a router / switch so you can connect all your computers

-as many old computers as you like

- VMware server ( free product ) http://www.vmware.com/download/server/

- your favourite Linux flavour for the old computers I am using Fedora 8 http://fedoraproject.org/

Next install VMserver on your main computer, create as many virtual machines as you need ( one of each computer ), install VM console on your workstations and point it to the server

That's it !

For "The other way" what you need is;

- a fast machine with lots of RAM

- Windows server OS ( 2003 or 2000 Terminal Server )

- Dos or any Windows OS for your workstations

- Terminal server client or rdesktop

This approach will allow you to run all your application on one machine and share them with the others. You will only need to maintain, patch and backup one server Start Terminal server service on the server, use rdesktop or terminal server client on the workstation to connect to server .

That's it

There are, of course, various issues, tricks and settings to make but these will depend entirely on your goals and specific needs Contact us if you would like to discuss details.