Repurpose thin clients?

[anewmission]

I have 4 HP dual core 1.5 thin clients.

Not sure what is was originally installed but they run extremely slow on anything other than a headless music os. For which I only need one, and I can use a LPs for that one.

 

For the rest I'm wondering how to repurpose them. How do I set up a bigger pc in my house so they use it's graphics ect? 

I'm new to this sort of thing, but willing to learn and read.

Even if I could get Kodi (libreelec) to boot ove network so that these machines used a different graphics that would be great.

I have a few bulky i7 machines laying around

[mikescraigslist]

To set them up as media terminals google "GPU passthrough". Lots of information. Depending on your level of experience, it might be a very time consuming process...

[Guest Old Man Rubber]

You need to set up a PXE server on the same subnet as the clients.  It's quite involved and may not be worth the trouble.  If you can reconfigure the thin clients to boot off a USB I would do that instead.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/configure-a-pxe-server-to-load-windows-pe

 

I mean, it's sort of fun to play with that stuff for your own amusement/education but they rarely make practical sense in a home environment.

[anewmission]

The thin clients have a 8gb internal SSD.

The problem with booting them straight into their own dedicated operating systems is the graphics, it's unusable. I have tried windows 10, Linux mint and a bunch of Chromebook os. None are workable.

 

I remember a few years back there was a steam os that could be installed on a low end PC but use the hardware from your gaming PC over ethernet. You could even install Kodi or xbmc in that os.

 

I guess that is what I'm trying to do.

I can imagine myself with these thin clients all over the house, some running windows, some running headless audio operating systems, some raspberry Pi's hooked up to the TV's.

Not sure if this is all possible to put together

I have noticed server graphics cards can be quite cheap but with really really high specs but no 3d. 

Would it matter if there is no 3d if I'm just using them for video and not gaming?

 

[Guest Old Man Rubber]

10 minutes ago, anewmission said:

 

I can imagine myself with these thin clients all over the house, some running windows, some running headless audio operating systems, some raspberry Pi's hooked up to the TV's.

Not sure if this is all possible to put together

I have noticed server graphics cards can be quite cheap but with really really high specs but no 3d. 

Would it matter if there is no 3d if I'm just using them for video and not gaming?

 

3D won't matter for your purposes.

 

Is the video chipset unrecognised by everything?  That sounds very odd.  Do you have an exact model number for these things?

 

I have entertained this exact same scenario in the past, although in the end it's much cheaper and easier to buy 2nd hand Chromecasts and drag a laptop around with you if you need an operating system 

 

If you really need something you can fiddle with, the Pi's are so cheap it's not worth investing too much time in orphan headless gear.  Old servers on the other hand...

[anewmission]

3 hours ago, Old Man Rubber said:

3D won't matter for your purposes.

 

Is the video chipset unrecognised by everything?  That sounds very odd.  Do you have an exact model number for these things?

 

I have entertained this exact same scenario in the past, although in the end it's much cheaper and easier to buy 2nd hand Chromecasts and drag a laptop around with you if you need an operating system 

 

If you really need something you can fiddle with, the Pi's are so cheap it's not worth investing too much time in orphan headless gear.  Old servers on the other hand...

That's true.

I wonder how the rpi4 would go with playing tidal video clips while spitting out the audio via i2s. That is supposed to be a great streamer.

 

As far as the thin clients they are Wyse ZX0 AMD G-T52R 1.50GHz.the graphics drivers install themselves on windows.

Linux they are auto. Already in 720p or 1080p

 

 

[Guest Old Man Rubber]

20 minutes ago, anewmission said:

That's true.

I wonder how the rpi4 would go with playing tidal video clips while spitting out the audio via i2s. That is supposed to be a great streamer.

 

As far as the thin clients they are Wyse ZX0 AMD G-T52R 1.50GHz.the graphics drivers install themselves on windows.

Linux they are auto. Already in 720p or 1080p

 

 

Hmmm - Windows Embedded "enhanced" by Wyse.  Massive red flag for me.  You would need the licensed server software to make them work usefully which will be prohibitively expensive.

 

I hate to say it but like a lot of those thin clients, they are too niche to appeal to the kinds of hackers you need to make them useful.  Sun Micro used to make some thin clients that ended up in the same boat (i.e. potentially useful, in practice too much work and too little interest from the community of people who like to play with this stuff).

 

The RPi4 should be able to do that stuff easily with the bonus that the community of people playing with them is huge.

 

[anewmission]

22 hours ago, Old Man Rubber said:

Hmmm - Windows Embedded "enhanced" by Wyse.  Massive red flag for me.  You would need the licensed server software to make them work usefully which will be prohibitively expensive.

 

I hate to say it but like a lot of those thin clients, they are too niche to appeal to the kinds of hackers you need to make them useful.  Sun Micro used to make some thin clients that ended up in the same boat (i.e. potentially useful, in practice too much work and too little interest from the community of people who like to play with this stuff).

 

The RPi4 should be able to do that stuff easily with the bonus that the community of people playing with them is huge.

 

I will try on the kodi forums and see if anyone has done this.

I wonder if steam os is still around as that could potentially work from memory

 

[Guest Old Man Rubber]

1 hour ago, anewmission said:

I will try on the kodi forums and see if anyone has done this.

I wonder if steam os is still around as that could potentially work from memory

 

It will be an interesting journey regardless

[mikescraigslist]

9 hours ago, anewmission said:

I will try on the kodi forums and see if anyone has done this.

I wonder if steam os is still around as that could potentially work from memory

 

What this guy did should work for you too.

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/xbmc/comments/1r24f3/xbmc_on_thin_client_wyse_z90sw/

[anewmission]

9 hours ago, mikescraigslist said:

What this guy did should work for you too.

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/xbmc/comments/1r24f3/xbmc_on_thin_client_wyse_z90sw/

I'll try just the openelec os on Monday. Unfortunately the clients doesn't have hdmi or optical. My usb dac should do the trick I guess

[anewmission]

On 11/06/2021 at 11:21 PM, mikescraigslist said:

What this guy did should work for you too.

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/xbmc/comments/1r24f3/xbmc_on_thin_client_wyse_z90sw/

I decided to post them on here and on eBay.

35 is what I paid so I guess if anyone wants a roon endpoint or mpd dsd streamer or lms server player.. without the installation process. Some people might prefer to rpi.. the fact it's so much cheaper without the extras you need to buy for the rpi and it doesn't need any special cooling cases or extra heatsinks.

 

[mikescraigslist]

On 15/06/2021 at 1:10 AM, anewmission said:

I decided to post them on here and on eBay.

35 is what I paid so I guess if anyone wants a roon endpoint or mpd dsd streamer or lms server player.. without the installation process. Some people might prefer to rpi.. the fact it's so much cheaper without the extras you need to buy for the rpi and it doesn't need any special cooling cases or extra heatsinks.

 

So, did you getting working as a Kodi box? 

[anewmission]

On 17/06/2021 at 3:36 PM, mikescraigslist said:

So, did you getting working as a Kodi box? 

I haven't tried yet I have been tied up with other things. Hoping to just sell the lot as a bunch .

I will try before I sell them, though I realized there is no way to produce 5.1 audio as there is no optical or hdmi, so a usb dac would be best. I don't know of any 5.1 usb dac 

[mikescraigslist]

You can try USB soundcards. No idea how any of them sound, but there are lots of 5.1 and 7.1 options.

[anewmission]

On 6/17/2021 at 3:36 PM, mikescraigslist said:

So, did you getting working as a Kodi box? 

So I finally got around to trying Kodi. And to my suprise it works fantastic. 1080p videos work flawless and even 4k at 1080p.

I did a few mods. I added a 60gb SSD. I bought a dvi-hdmi cable and I bought a 3.5mm optical cable.

 

I was able to turn on optical through headphone jack. It does 5.1

 

So for 35+10+3+3$ it turns out to be quite a capable Kodi streamer. Cheaper than a rpi? Possibly.

 

I would suggest anyone wanting to try this to get one with a better processor

[mikescraigslist]

Nice. This is indeed very cost effective.

[anewmission]

10 hours ago, mikescraigslist said:

Nice. This is indeed very cost effective.

You can often find these in bundles of 20 or even 50 on grays online for basically nothing. I'm going on the search for a thin client with HDMI and a LPs for it.

So many things make me wonder if I should just get a Nvidia shield? 

But I can watch Netflix, Stan, foxtel, kayo, Optus sport, all catch up on Kodi now.

Apart from it's lack of dac drivers I really love kodi

[mikescraigslist]

12 hours ago, anewmission said:

You can often find these in bundles of 20 or even 50 on grays online for basically nothing. I'm going on the search for a thin client with HDMI and a LPs for it.

So many things make me wonder if I should just get a Nvidia shield? 

But I can watch Netflix, Stan, foxtel, kayo, Optus sport, all catch up on Kodi now.

Apart from it's lack of dac drivers I really love kodi

 

It seems most of the auctions are local pickup in Sydney or Canberra though. Not that I check often but that's the general impression I had.

 

[anewmission]

15 hours ago, mikescraigslist said:

 

It seems most of the auctions are local pickup in Sydney or Canberra though. Not that I check often but that's the general impression I had.

 

They are. I live in sydney, last covid many many offices selling all their stuff. I can imagine the same thing happening this time

 

[Guest DrSK]

Have to say the topic heading just makes me smile. 

 

I'm a consultant and have days where wish I could repurpose some of my thin clients.

[mikescraigslist]

11 hours ago, anewmission said:

They are. I live in sydney, last covid many many offices selling all their stuff. I can imagine the same thing happening this time

 

Yeah. Sydney is good for that. Not as many options in Brisbane.

[anewmission]

On 7/14/2021 at 1:02 AM, mikescraigslist said:

Yeah. Sydney is good for that. Not as many options in Brisbane.

If u ever see anything u want from grays in Sydney, after our lockdown I can help you out. They are on the other side of Sydney so I would be breaking the law by going at the moment but I'm happy to help fellow sna members

[mikescraigslist]

5 hours ago, anewmission said:

If u ever see anything u want from grays in Sydney, after our lockdown I can help you out. They are on the other side of Sydney so I would be breaking the law by going at the moment but I'm happy to help fellow sna members

 

Thanks for the offer mate. That's kind of you.

 

[christosd]

I selected a thin client with a dedicated graphics chip. Tricked the windows 7 embedded to keep its cache so I could install programs, and used it for 3 years as a Roon server, ran Kodi. And even ran a 'demo' version of J River. It was sometimes fun watching its Ram Max out but it never missed a beat. It had a 32 GB. Flash drive that used to fill up with Roon cache files occasionally that I would have to prune away to keep it going. 

I popped all of the instructions in a thread titled "Cheaper than a raspberry pi" that I used as a record of what I did but SNA has pruned it too! I can find it in the "activity streams I started" any more..... 

Edited July 24, 2021 by christosd