[winswitch] Xpra for thin clients

[Elliot Hallmark]

>> 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.
>
> I'm sorry I can't comment on that any more than I already have in my
previous rant:
> http://lists.devloop.org.uk/pipermail/shifter-users/2014-June/000888.html
>
> Only to say that the NVENC SDK version 4 is now out and that I will take
a look at it soon to see what broke:
> http://xpra.org/trac/ticket/653

Okay, so if I do get a key, xpra may be able to use it?

> That's what winswitch does, and more.
> If you only care about xpra and access over ssh, you can easily write
something more simple.

Ha, I haven't even looked at winswitch.  I will check it out. I want the
clients to be as thin as possible, but I doubt xpra vs winswitch is much
difference.

Elliot

> Cheers
> Antoine
>
>
>> 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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>>> > shifter-users at lists.devloop.org.uk
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>>>
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>