[winswitch] Xpra for thin clients

Elliot Hallmark Permafacture at gmail.com
Fri Sep 12 04:52:58 BST 2014


Thanks.  Those keys exist, but how would I get one? Nvidia website says I
need to have a personal contact at nvidia already to be considered.

Yes, I forgot about virtualgl.  I had got a two head system working and
forgot that not dealing with video connections on the card would free me up.

I am fine with serving applications, though a virtual machine could be an
application if that ends up being useful.  I intend to make a python based
menu on the clients for choosing applications, rather than give clients the
whole desktop.
On Sep 11, 2014 10:14 PM, "Antoine Martin" <antoine at nagafix.co.uk> wrote:

> On 12/09/14 09:29, Elliot Hallmark wrote:
> > I just want to check in and make sure I am thinking correctly.  My aim is
> > to serve hardware opengl accelerated applications to thin clients.
> >
> > I wanted to use nvenc from a gtx 660, but this requires a developer key.
> Those keys exist. I haven't tested them myself with GTX6XXs, only with
> GTX7XXs, but I believe others have.
> > So, for a prototype before investing in a $2000 grid card ( k1 and k2
> > support nvenc through xpra without a dev key), I will use the x264
> encoder.
> If you want to use a pro card to avoid the license key issue, there are
> cheaper options than the grid cards.
> The NVENC chips on those cards are not faster than in the consumer cards
> (if anything slower because of the lower clock and older architecture),
> the only benefit of the grid cards is that they have multiple chips per
> card. (4 in a K1, 2 in a K2)
> > Clients will run a stripped down linux that only runs xpra client in full
> > screen, ultimately with a python based application or session selector
> > interface.  Server will serve applications (potentially virtualized
> > desktops) at the full screen resolution of the client.  The server will
> > render applications on the gtx 660 before encoding.
> If I understand this correctly, you want to use xpra to serve a full
> desktop instead of individual windows?
> That would work but it would be less efficient than letting the clients
> manage the windows themselves.
> >   I believe this
> > requires some hacking to make each application in a common X session (ie
> > :100.1, 100.2, etc) inorder to "share" the gpu.
> I'm not sure I understand this part.
> If you want multiple server sessions getting accelerated OpenGL
> rendering, you should look at VirtualGL.
> If you want to share the NVENC encoding chip for multiple server
> sessions, then it is just a permission issue on the video device.
> > I can do the last bit with X, ie I had two monitors displaying seperate
> > hardware accelerated programs (like minecraft) from a single gpu through
> > creative use of xorg.conf, so I'm assuming it can happen with xpra too.
> This sounds like a client-side setup.
> > Has anyone done this before? Any heads up would be appreciated.
> Hope this helps!
>
> Cheers
> Antoine
> >
> > Thanks,
> >   Elliot
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>
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