After understand on how to implementing unix part 1, currently we are look into detail on
X terminals
If you are running UNIX on a central high-spec computer and connecting to it from a group of less powerful terminals – as is the case with mainframe systems – you can install the X Window System on the terminals. This allows the terminals to access the central computer and run applications on it. It provides terminal users with a graphical interface they can use to interact with these applications.
Because X terminals do not need to run any applications apart from the basic UNIX operating system, the X Window System and basic utilities, they don’t need to have large amounts of memory and hard disk space. Therefore they’re a good way of reusing obsolete PCs. For example, a computer with a 486 processor, 16 MB of memory, and 200 MB of disk space would be an adequate X terminal.
Diskless clients
Taking the terminal concept still further, you can implement technology that allows terminals to boot from a server over the network. In these deployments, the UNIX operating system and the X Window System download into the client’s RAM from a network server. The client does not need to have any disk or CD-ROM installed and can consist of a basic processor and motherboard with a network card and a small amount of memory. The network card needs to support the Boot Protocol (BOOTP) and DHCP so that the client can obtain an IP address from the boot server.
This solution is the most centralized, and the least expensive, of the UNIX deployment options. However, server hardware needs to be able to cope with the processing load of all the diskless clients at the same time.
Windows clients
The computers accessing a central UNIX computer do not necessarily need to run UNIX themselves. It’s possible for users on Windows computers to connect to UNIX computers using a Telnet session. They can then execute UNIX commands and programs in a
command-line environment.
This is especially useful in a mixed deployment where users are working on Windows computers but they occasionally need to access UNIX servers that are performing essential network functions.
UNIX on standalone computers
Although networking is one of the main strengths of the UNIX operating system, you can also use UNIX systems as standalone computers. For example, you could set up UNIX on a home PC and use it in much the same way as a home PC running Windows. Some flavors of UNIX are better suited to this application than others, with Linux being particularly popular.
The requirements of home users tend to differ from those of academics and IT administrators – they require more graphical interaction and user-friendly tools and applications. To provide a more attractive and comfortable feel for the user, several GUIs
have been created for UNIX. These include desktop environments, graphical configuration tools, and applications for work and entertainment similar to those found in Macintosh and Microsoft environments. The most popular UNIX GUIs are the Common Desktop
Environment (CDE), Gnome, and the Kool Desktop Environment (KDE), although there are many others.
Because these GUI environments require processor and memory resources to run smoothly, you should avoid installing them on servers that need to dedicate maximum processing power to the services they provide.
