CSLab Administered Desktops

What is this machine on my desk?

If you have a desk, you should have a computer of some sort on it. The type of computer that you have depends on a number of factors, primarily whether this machine was purchased for you, or provided to you in lieu of a purchased machine.

CSLab has a wide range of terminals in our deployment pool, and if a machine has not been purchased for a user (by the user, the supervisor of the user, or the research group) CSLab will deploy whatever hardware is available until a machine purchase can be arranged.

The machines that CSLab deploys are thin clients, either LTSP machines or Sunrays modified to work as LTSPs. None of the terminals that we deploy currently have support for CDROMs, floppies, sound, USB, or local disk access.

LTSPs are X terminals with no local disk that display an X session from one of our application servers. LTSPs run a Linux kernel and an X server.

There are no specific instructions for LTSP use other than the fact that you can always reboot an LTSP as they have no hard drive and do not maintain any state. If your LTSP has crashed, reboot it. If it fails to return you to the XDM chooser, contact your PoC.

Sunrays at CSLab work in the same manner as an LTSP, with the exception that they don't even run their own kernel and X server. You can unplug a Sunray and it will have no effect on your session; when you plug it back in again, nothing will have changed. This means that you cannot power-cycle a sunray to recover from a crash, rather you can restart the X server by issuing a [ctrl]-[alt]-[backspace] twice in quick succession. This will restart the X server and hopefully recover from a crash. Should you still have a problem, contact your PoC.

If you, your supervisor, or your research group has purchased a workstation-class machine for your use it will either be maintained by you, or by your PoC. CSLab no longer administers workstations with local operating systems.

If you have trouble with the machine on your desk, please get in touch with your Point of Contact person with the name of the machine (usually on a label on the front of the case) and a brief explanation of the problem. Please note that we do not swap around hardware (monitors and such) on machines from our deployment pool unless there is a failure and a replacement is required. If you do not like the machine at your desk, please discuss with your supervisor the possibility of purchasing a replacement.

If the machine on your desk is a self-administered workstation (i.e. not a terminal) and you should consult User Administered Desktops or speak to your PoC for reference information.