Think Thin: Thin Client and Server Based Computing Group Blog

Depending how you read this blog, you might have notice a few subtle changes aimed at increasing usability.  The very talented Matthias Müller-Prove, Sun's Desktop Virtualization Engineering Group's User Experience Architect added some cool new features to the Think Thin Blog. 

Updates in a nutshell:

• Added TweetMeme twitter badge
• Changed order in right navigation bar
• Added navigation links to the bottom of the blog
  
• New tagcloud styling
• Open tagcloud by default
• Added tags for each posting
• Changed 'sun ray' tags to 'sunray' and sunray made it to the most popular tags
• Note: Trademark name is still 'Sun Ray' but our blogging engine does not support two word tags, thus Sun Ray related entries were getting two tags Sun & Ray.
  

Sun Ray & some supporting Sun engineering organizations have developed fixes to help recognize certain HSPD-12/PIV compliant cards for Sun Ray.  Recent HSPD-12/PIV Oberthur card releases...

• Oberthur/ID-One Cosmo 64 v52D Fast ATR card
• Oberthur Card Systems, PIV End Point Dual Interface 64K Smart Card
  
• Oberthur CS v1.08 card

...are not recognized or produce erroneous tokens when inserted into a Sun Ray card reader. 

In the future, Sun Ray Engineering will release a patch to SRSS 4.0 & SRSS 4.1 which includes this fix. However, that release has been delayed due to higher priority activities.  Padu Iyer gave permission to release this via the ThinkThin blog.  Eventually this entry will be overcome by events (hopefully Padu or I will remember to update/retract this later).

Here's the fix...

1. Download this file with the Oberthur card fixes
2. Save file as OberthurCS.cfg into /etc/opt/SUNWut/smartcard directory on all Sun Ray servers
   
3. Edit /etc/opt/SUNWut/smartcard/probe_order.conf
4. After the 1st line comment (# EDIT WITH CARE...), add this:
   OberthurCS.cfg
5. Save the file
6. Cold restart Sun Ray services: utrestart -c

This has only been tested on SRSS 4.0 & 4.1. 

Thanks to Ramesh Nagappan, Marc Puverel & Padu Iyer for their support on this.

Some gold by our Think Thin authors.

Updated Non-smartcard VDI scripts

First patch for Sun Virtual Desktop Connector

Fat Blokes New VirtualBox Buzz Blog

I have updated the Man Page Reference doc to include the Virtual Desktop Connector reference pages.

This is a great command line resource for looking up those obscure options when you are scripting Sun Ray behavior or administration.

mandoc-4.11.08.pdf

 EDIT 10/15/2008: This doc has been updated.. http://blogs.sun.com/ThinkThin/entry/man_page_reference_doc_updated

Just got back from a SCUBA diving vacation in Grand Cayman.  Here's a picture of 1 of our Dive Boats.  How ironic is this?

New format and some new entries on our Success Stories pages.  Enjoy.

Sun Ray:  http://www.sun.com/sunray/success.xml

Secure Global Desktop:  http://www.sun.com/software/products/sgd/success.jsp

I'm slowly getting around to posting all the presentation slide decks we promised.  To be fair to my co-presenters, I'm the reason for the delay.  I have a lot of NDA material to strip out and notes to add to mine.  I'll keep updating this post, so check back for the others.

 In the meantime, enjoy a picture of an exhausted Matt Hatley who tried to power the event from a LifeCycle following the "Snake Incident".

SRS 4 09/07 Kiosk Deep Dive by Brad Lackey (OpenOffice | PDF )

Editors note:  Compare and contrast how much Kiosk has changed by comparing the SRSS 3.1 CAM slide deck 

Sun Ray with Solaris 10 Trusted Extensions by Matt Hatley (21 MB zip)

Zip file contains the following:

Presentations and How To:

• sr-deep-dive-aug2007.odp/.pdf - SNAP Presentation Sun Ray on Trusted Extensions
• tx-deepdive-srss4u2-build-log.txt - Detailed Build Log
  

Trusted Extensions DB Files:

• label_encodings
• tnrhtp
• tnrhdb
• tnzonecfg
  

TX Zone Build Files:

• sbu.cfg
• secret.cfg
• topsecret.cfg

Secure Global Desktop Deep Dive by Andy Hall (OpenOffice | PDF )

Editors note:  This deck doesn't do the preso justice since 99% is a demo that takes you through the full install and configuration of Secure Global Desktop.  Please attend the next Desktop Virtualization Days Event to see Andy speak

Desktop Virtualization Days Preso by Craig Bender (OpenOffice | PDF )

Editors note:  This deck has a lot of meeting information as well as an overview of what's new in Sun Ray, what is Virtual Desktop Computing, and why you should care.

Delivering Virtualized Desktops Preso by Craig Bender (OpenOffice | PDF )

Editors note:  Mostly Marketechture.  Really needs to be followed by a Sun VDAK Demo.

Somehow it slipped passed me that we've been doing this group blog for over a year now.  I'm know all of the Think Thin bloggers join in me in thanking your for your readership and we truly hope you find this a useful resource.  Here's to a thinner, greener, and more productive year to come!

Instead of 'computers' being used to teach kids how to type, write an email or use a spreadsheet, he's looking into how to embed them into the curriculum and use IT as a teaching tool - much like one might use a pen, paper and books.

As with any educational environment, cost of ownership, manageability and - dare I say it - politics, can be more of an issue than in the commercial world. Thin clients and open source software go a long way to meeting his requirements.

I think Sun Ray meets many of his needs. He's taking a very open approach and is evaluating a number of solutions in a very even-handed manner.

You can read his 'Open Education' reports here. Check out the great pics of the kids using their Sun Ray 170s!