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Turn one PC into two for free
By Martin English | January 2, 2008
How do you like the sound of taking one machine, and having two people logged into it simultaneously? Sounds pretty neat to me – and it’s free too, which is always a tick in the right box.
Canadian company Userful markets Linux-based desktop multiplier and public access computing solutions – effectively turning one system into an X Window server supporting up to ten terminals. They’re giving away a free 2-user copy of their PC Multiplier software, which lets you have two people simultaneously connected to a single system, but running separate sessions.
PC Multiplier uses basic dual-head GPU technology and USB inputs to turn a monitor, keyboard and mouse into a complete workstation. The user has a range of environments to work in, all of which are fully customisable, and more importantly, completely independent of any other environment.
PC Multiplier comes as a set of installable packages for Linux or as a LiveCD for non-Linux systems. It works with most graphics cards supported by X.Org/XFree86 and has been tested on most major distros running the 2.6 kernel, like Fedora Core, SLED, SuSE, Mandriva and Ubuntu (just to name a few).
There’s also a LiveCD available. Like all LiveCDs it doesn’t make any changes to the underlying system, and once it’s up and running individual session performance is pretty good, so it’s suitable for either testing or in a limited production environment.
Actual system requirements are pretty low. For the installed packages, on top of the base resources needed to run the host operating system, PC Multiplier needs a supported dualhead graphics card, 192MB of system memory for a two-user environment (256MB recommended) and an additional 64MB for each extra supported workstation. It has a tiny hard drive footprint of around 13MB and runs on a 400MHz or better CPU. The LiveCD just has the CPU and memory requirements, and can even be run on a system with no physical hard drive.
Within their sessions, users don’t have access to the underlying file system, which means that they have to store data on the network or on USB devices. It’s recommended to link the USB keyboard and mouse for each session to a powered USB hub – this reduces the number of USB ports needed on the host system, but also allows each user to connect a USB storage device which is secured to that session alone.
In short, PC Multiplier is a very clever example of what can be done in the realm of public access computing. The free two user product is a great tool for home users wanting to set up secured environments for kids, or for desktop admins for “proof of concept”. However, to do something really usefull you may need to pay to get more than two users.
A usefull link on Multiple local XFree users under Linux
from APC
Topics: *nix, Code, Hardware, Productivity, Security, Technology | No Comments »
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