Sun Rays as Multihead Windows Terminals
As a follow on to my last post regarding RDP resolution, I thought I'd post some pictures of various multihead configurations using Sun Rays and the Sun Ray Connector for Windows. Note that these resolutions work for normal Windows Terminal Server sessions as well as Virtual Desktop Computing (VDC/VDI).
Here's a Sun Ray 2FS Driving dual 24.1" LCD's. Resolution is 3840x1200
Here's a 3x1 multihead group using Sun Ray 270's. Resolution is 3840x1024
Finally here's a 4x1 multihead group using Sun Ray 270's. The individual Sun Rays were constrained to 1024x768 in order not to exceed the max resolution width of RDP which is 4096. Resolution is 4096x768
That is pretty sweet, productivity must be up by 50%.
Posted by Danny Holland on June 03, 2008 at 04:20 PM PDT #
What is is the point? Multi-monitor users are mostly heavy graphics users and this ain't going to fly as solution for them.
Posted by 210.48.109.206 on June 04, 2008 at 07:22 PM PDT #
Most of our "big screen" users are video folk, so yeah, they don't benefit. But a number of them are "spreadsheet jockeys" and love the real estate.
However, my biggest peeve is that RDP is absolutely terrible for synchronized audio and video. Even watching low bandwidth YouTube videos is impossible. This isn't a Sun Ray fault, but it's the #1 reason we haven't deployed Sun Rays (or any RDP-based thin client solution).
Posted by Charles Soto on June 04, 2008 at 08:09 PM PDT #
"What's the point?" Asks an anonymous poster. Users in NOCs, trading floors, call centers, etc. Tons of every day users are finding they are more productive with multi-screen setups. And yes it does fly. Nice negativity by the way.
Posted by Thin Guy on June 05, 2008 at 05:49 AM PDT #
On the 3/4 monitor setups. How many IP addresses are you using? Is there one IP for each display?
-ds
Posted by Damon L. Schlosser on June 07, 2008 at 06:56 AM PDT #
Damon, each Sun Ray is it's own terminal and has it's own IP.
Posted by Thin Guy on June 07, 2008 at 09:27 AM PDT #
@210.48.109.206 - we have a tonne of admin users who use a tonne of spreadsheet/office/email/web, windows all over the shop, solution like this would be brilliant.
Posted by dave on June 12, 2008 at 10:05 PM PDT #
Any suggestions on Window placement? so that a maximized Window only occupies the display panel in which it was maximized.
Posted by Art Peck on June 16, 2008 at 06:28 AM PDT #
Running multiple 270's is a whole lot cleaner than stringing a bunch of Sunray 2's together.
Posted by Bob Prendergast on June 18, 2008 at 02:08 PM PDT #
This is cool from just the geek perspective. My GIS team would love to throw maps up on this solution. Less movement of the layers/maps as you work. As a desk jockey, I would love to have at least two, one setup for email, documents, web and the other for the network monitoring, etc.
Posted by Art Zepeda on June 25, 2008 at 09:25 AM PDT #
Art,
Would love to show you a demo. You can contact me @ ThinGuy AT Sun.com
Posted by Thin Guy on June 25, 2008 at 10:32 AM PDT #
So how much are SunRay boxes? I kinda like the "baby" ones (I assume the SunRay bit is in the display?). I have an Ultra24 on evaluation, and SunRays would actually help me solve a totally different problem (to the one I have the Ultra24 for). What do I need to make SunRays work? I have a need for perfectly "normal" desktop use - the bread and butter wordprocessing/spreadsheets/email/web stuff. I assume that an Ultra24 could support a reasonable number of users (tens) and might be more cost effective than traditional PCs (I honestly see no "show-stoppers") I don't even care about supporting Microsoft Windows apps (OpenOffice is more than suitable).
They look quite useful in software development too, it would be nice to run an application being developed on a physically different device (I mean different keyboard/display). I'd also like to be able to have a single desktop have a "follow me" functionality - I assume SunRays can do that? (I'm wanting to be able to use a single login session in different physical locations - so I can sit down at a SunRay and get back to where I'd left off. Some kind of physical authentication would be nice too)
Can a traditional PC behave like a SunRay? (Perhaps booting from USB flashdrive?)
Posted by jez on June 27, 2008 at 06:08 AM PDT #
Hi all,
I have virtualized a W2k professional desktop on top of VMWare, and across W2k3 with Terminal Server and Radmin. With Windows Connector across terminal server, I'm able to show a W2k session on a SunRay DTU (just a customer requeriment).
but just a little more complicated, the application on W2k desktop requeries 2560x1024 res, it means a 2FS desktop with a couple of monitors. At this point every think works fine, Terminal server session shows windows desktop at 2560x1024, but once I turn on W2k desktop with radmin, VMWare svga generic driver just support 1150x...
Does any body knows if, instead a 2FS, I work with Multihead with a couple of 2 standard DTU's it will work as a couple of independent resolution monitors?
I know is a complicated solution, but a Cartographic application requires w2k and a 2560x1024 res.
Thanks in advanced,
Cesar
Posted by Cesar Lacorte on June 27, 2008 at 10:31 AM PDT #
Seems to me most of your commenters are missing the point of a 4-screen array like that... surely its true purpose is as a kick-*ss flight sim display? (One of these days someone is going to walk into a meeting room and find me in there using the barco to project a flight sim onto the wall... then there's going to be an embarassing "appropriate use" discussion... ;^)
Posted by Robin Wilton on July 02, 2008 at 05:08 AM PDT #
OK, so my question is 'how'? I've been digging through various sites, including SUN and can't find any info on how to set this up.
Posted by Brian Atkins on July 02, 2008 at 01:11 PM PDT #
Hi Brian,
Chapter 9 of the admin guide.
Note that you do need to set the system policy to allow MH.
Boils down to:
utmhconfig for the gui, utmhadm for command line, for xinerama, utxconfig -x on.
http://docs.sun.com/source/820-0411/mh.html#50450457_14991
Also see this post from a while ago and the note about documentation.
http://blogs.sun.com/ThinkThin/entry/multihead_sun_rays
Posted by Thin Guy on July 02, 2008 at 01:26 PM PDT #
Hey Thin Guy,
Here at NAU's Business School I've got Sun Rays coming out of the woodwork, including 1's, 1g's, 2g's, 170's and 270's. I see in your top photo you are using what looks to be a pair of Sun 24.1 LCD's, probably on a 2FG. I have two of these 24.1's, but only the 1g's work with them at 1920x1200@60D. I can't get ANY 2g to play. Any ideas?
This is important, as I too am a thin client evangelist, and I've got our Dean sold on them too, but he wants the slick 2g on his desk to show off, not a clunky-looking 1g.
-damon
Posted by Damon Brown on July 23, 2008 at 10:41 AM PDT #
Hi Damon,
You need a Sun Ray 2FS (http://www.sun.com/sunray/sunray2fs) to drive dual 24.1" flats. The regular Sun Ray 2 now goes up to 1680x1050 (standard at first was 1600x1200) but you need to apply the latest firmware to allow that. While clunky you could just stick the second SR1g under the desk, keeping only the primary in view.
Posted by Thin Guy on July 23, 2008 at 10:57 AM PDT #
Sun Rays as Multihead Windows Terminals
Thin Guy,
How do you set up the 2FS to use multiple monitors utilizing windows connector? Doesn't the multihead configuration require 2 2FS's? Is that how you set up the very first image you posted on this thread? When not in CAM mode (using a smartcard) solaris will utilize both screens, but when in CAM mode for windows, it only uses one desktop (monitor).
Posted by Jimmy on December 08, 2008 at 01:58 PM PST #
Jimmy, follow the very first link in this blog. Sounds like you are being hit by the RDP limitation of 1600x1200.
Posted by Thin Guy on December 08, 2008 at 02:01 PM PST #