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New Chip Offers Virtual Windows Desktops, On TVs
angry tapir writes "Ncomputing on Friday announced a chip that could turn devices like TVs or set-top boxes into virtual desktops through which users can run Windows applications or access the Internet. The Numo chip contains a dual-core processor based on an ARM design that will allow devices to run Windows multimedia applications when connected to a host machine like a desktop or server. The setup uses the company's Vspace software on host machines to set up remote devices as virtual desktops."
I could do "Terminal Services Client" on pocket pc ages ago with a 300MHz ARM cpu. I doubt a dual core is needed for remote desktop.
It probably runs remote desktop client on top of a lightweight Linux setup, or some other small OS. In theory, it can run Linux because it's simply an arm-based device.
I remember a product of this sort (I think by Viewsonic) several years back.
Ok, it only works for Linux/UNIX, but.. It's called X. I was doing this using a physical X station (X 11R5, from DEC) connecting to my Linux desktop, sometime around 1998, and it was _old_ tech by then - I had been given the X station by the local uni computer club, which had gotten it from some institution way earlier...
--The knowledge that you are an idiot, is what distinguishes you from one.
I actually read the article. The key difference between this chip and traditional thin clients or terminals is that the chip will allow multimedia playback locally on the TV. RemotFX allows for a better multimedia experience through a Terminal server desktop or application by re-directing the video/audio to the TV or device that initiates the remote session without requiring the application locally. With a regular RDP connection the Video/Audio plays in the remote session on the remote host and the output is piped through the RDP client. Which is why it is choppy and low quality even on a LAN connection.
The whole reason Microsoft has RemotFX is because multimedia content is one of the things Terminal server doesn't do well. Citrix has it own method for redirecting audio and video to the local PC. But that still requires the application to be on the local device which isn't always the case with thin-clients. RemoteFX won't require the application that plays the content to be on the local PC or TV.