ThinLinc is a

cross-platform Within computing, cross-platform software (also called multi-platform software, platform-agnostic software, or platform-independent software) is computer software that is designed to work in several Computing platform, computing platforms. Some ...

remote desktop server developed by Cendio AB. The server software and the users' main desktops run on

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

. Clients are available for

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

macOS macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

, and a number of

thin client In computer networking, a thin client, sometimes called slim client or lean client, is a simple (low-Computer performance, performance) computer that has been Program optimization, optimized for Remote desktop, establishing a remote connectio ...

s. A browser client (Web Access) using HTML5 technologies is also available.

Protocols

ThinLinc uses

SSH The Secure Shell Protocol (SSH Protocol) is a cryptographic network protocol for operating network services securely over an unsecured network. Its most notable applications are remote login and command-line execution. SSH was designed for Un ...

for transport encryption and authentication, and VNC for graphics, keyboard and mouse. Access to client devices is provided through different open protocols such as PulseAudio for sound (playback and recording), NFS for file system access (using a user space NFS server), and

Telnet Telnet (sometimes stylized TELNET) is a client-server application protocol that provides access to virtual terminals of remote systems on local area networks or the Internet. It is a protocol for bidirectional 8-bit communications. Its main ...

/RFC2217 for serial port access. Access to a client-side

Smart Card A smart card (SC), chip card, or integrated circuit card (ICC or IC card), is a card used to control access to a resource. It is typically a plastic credit card-sized card with an Embedded system, embedded integrated circuit (IC) chip. Many smart ...

s is provided via the PC/SC interface using a proprietary protocol.

High performance graphics

Starting with version 3.0.0, JPEG compression and decompression has been accelerated using the

SIMD Single instruction, multiple data (SIMD) is a type of parallel computer, parallel processing in Flynn's taxonomy. SIMD describes computers with multiple processing elements that perform the same operation on multiple data points simultaneousl ...

extensions present in modern

CPU A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor, or just processor, is the primary processor in a given computer. Its electronic circuitry executes instructions of a computer program, such as arithmetic, log ...

s. Given a reasonably fast server, client, and network, it is possible to play back motion graphics in full screen mode. This can be done without any client side video decoder software or specialized handling of video. These performance enhancements also means that ThinLinc works very well in conjunction with the

VirtualGL VirtualGL (VGL) is an open-source software package that redirects the 3D rendering commands from Unix and Linux OpenGL applications to 3D accelerator hardware in a dedicated server and sends the rendered output to a ( thin) client located elsewhe ...

software, which provides hardware accelerated OpenGL on the server side. This allows 3D applications such as

Google Earth Google Earth is a web mapping, web and computer program created by Google that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satelli ...

to run with good performance. For example, the National Supercomputer Centre in Sweden (NSC) is using ThinLinc to run applications in their cluster remotely.

Usage

Many universities use ThinLinc to make system administration more centralized or only to make remote access to their computer systems available for students and staff. Example: University of Manitoba, Universität Zürich, Institut für Mathematik, Danmarks Tekniske Universitet, Luleå University. Other users are

Saab Group Saab AB (originally , , acronym SAAB), with subsidiaries collectively known as the Saab Group (), is a Swedish aerospace and defence company primarily operating from Sweden. The company is headquartered in Stockholm, but its development and ma ...

Volvo Cars Volvo Car AB, trading as Volvo Cars (, styled VOLVO in the company's logo) is a Sweden, Swedish multinational manufacturer of luxury vehicles. Volvo is headquartered in Torslanda, Gothenburg. The company manufactures SUVs, station wagons, and ...

and

Karlstad Municipality Karlstad Municipality () is a municipality in Värmland County in west central Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Karlstad. The present municipality was established in 1971 when the former City of Karlstad was amalgamated with a number ...

. Since

Oracle An oracle is a person or thing considered to provide insight, wise counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. If done through occultic means, it is a form of divination. Descript ...

announced that they will discontinue their development of

Sun Ray The Sun Ray is a stateless thin client computer (and associated software) aimed at corporate environments, that was originally introduced by Sun Microsystems in September 1999 and discontinued by Oracle Corporation in 2014. It features a smart ...

, there has been a big interest to replace it with a ThinLinc solution. The customers are generally organizations with extensive in-house knowledge of how to set up advanced computer systems, but partners resell the product as a part of a complete solution.

Open source software

ThinLinc includes many components that are

Free and open-source software Free and open-source software (FOSS) is software available under a license that grants users the right to use, modify, and distribute the software modified or not to everyone free of charge. FOSS is an inclusive umbrella term encompassing free ...

and Cendio AB, the developer, is a driving force in many of those projects. Notable projects that are used are TigerVNC, noVNC, OpenSSH, and PulseAudio. Source code is provided in the same archives as the binary versions.

References

External links