MetaFrame ?

W

WhateverJoe

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Is there a product like Citrix MetaFrame XPa for Mac OS X Server ? something that would allow a windows box running a client to work on a Mac Desktop .. in the same manor that Citrix works for Windows 2000/xp ?

Would be so Kewl if such a thing was around !
 
Well, you could use VNC, although it is pretty rustic and slow. Too bad Apple has removed remote display from Quartz.
 
WhaterverJoe, wish this myself as having to maintain an old Citrix/NT TermServ system. Are you using/maintaining the CitrixXPa/2000XP couple?

sveijk - Do you mean the absence of Quickdraw/Network Assistant deal or were there a set of API's that facilitated this and are now not present in Quartz?
 
Originally posted by Klink
WhaterverJoe, wish this myself as having to maintain an old Citrix/NT TermServ system. Are you using/maintaining the CitrixXPa/2000XP couple?

sveijk - Do you mean the absence of Quickdraw/Network Assistant deal or were there a set of API's that facilitated this and are now not present in Quartz?
Click to expand...

The Display Postscript Server in NeXtStep/OpenStep allowed remote display. It was a bit insecure in that you could not control display server access by host, but otherwise it was functionally equivalent to X11 (no security prize itself). Quartz is, more or less, a development of the NeXt DPS server. I remember reading on some GNUStep list that most of the core functionality is still there, and it is just an API question, but a quick web search didn't turn up anything.

From your response to WhateverJoe it sounds as if you are looking for an OSX Citrix client. If that is the case, I have found the Citrix Java client to be pretty good. With MRJAppbuilder (Included in the developer tools), you can quickly package it into double clickable OSX bundles. If you have any Java entrepeneur buddies it is guaranteed to make them drool.
 
Thank you for the explanation and effort. I'd like to look into this myself, perhaps see if this is a doable project to tackle or just pie in the sky wishing.

Actually, I think you might have been responsible for me going the Citrix Java/MRJAppbuilder route a while back when this was an issue. I'm using it now and share the same experience in that it is good. I was curious if WhaterverJoe had any experience with MS's 2k Server and it's inclusion of Terminal Services. This TermServ beast seems to be such a rare bird.

So can I assume you use/maintain a Citrix and or TermServ machine?
 
I currently do not maintain a Citrix or W2K Terminal Services system, but I am experimenting with a W2K TS box as a dummy for possible solution.... I would love to see such a thing on OS X.. and could offer the choice to some end users who are interested allready... to use OS X and Office X vs Windows.

Currently, I love the conecept of using slightly old Intel Hardware, running a basic install of Linux... and running rdesktop (Linux Citrix Client) ... This way, the users on our network who like to play around with-in Windows (Aka Screwing things up) can not , and have very little they can do to the local system... and the Terminal/Citrix session can be better controled and certain things locked .... compared to the individual local system...

It's all just a ponder at this point... but looks very exciting and has some positive and negative sides to all... However, if there was a remote User Desktop service for OS X... it would be a very positive addition and motivation to place this style of desktop distribution vs a stand-alone working-workstation ..... ;-)
 
WJoe - This is my biggest qualm with NT's TermServ, locking down the desktop to avoid unintentional or intentional user meanderings with the server. You're shit out of luck if the client isn't a Win machine. Introducing Metaframe, savior for all those other OS clients. As you described, it seems this is the same scenario for W2k w/TS. A bit disappointing. From the literature I've read on the W2k server, it seems TServices was just slapped on in an effort to appease NT TS owners and coax a migration to the new platform after stopping any further developement with NTTS.

I like the concept of distributing computing as well. What I'm observing with my little rinky dink systems is this demands quite some power from the server and see why enterprise solutions usually involve farming to reach some sort of reasonable performance.

Well good luck WJoe in your foray of dist comp in OS X and hope if you find an elegant solution (or not so elegant) that you would share with us your findings.
 
Originally posted by Klink
Thank you for the explanation and effort. I'd like to look into this myself, perhaps see if this is a doable project to tackle or just pie in the sky wishing.

Actually, I think you might have been responsible for me going the Citrix Java/MRJAppbuilder route a while back when this was an issue. I'm using it now and share the same experience in that it is good. I was curious if WhaterverJoe had any experience with MS's 2k Server and it's inclusion of Terminal Services. This TermServ beast seems to be such a rare bird.

So can I assume you use/maintain a Citrix and or TermServ machine?
Click to expand...

Actually, no. I am 100% *n*x, personally and professionally. But I have to devise the *n*x solutions for everything other people implement around here. Thus things like Citrix clients get dumped in my lap.

I'm glad that java client bundle is working out for you. The only problem I have had is that there is a bug in the MRJApp.properties parameters implementation that precludes pointing your bundle at published app names that include spaces. It reads the line as a space deliminated string, so it treats your spaced names as a bunch of arguments. There is no way to quote them. If you use published app names without spaces, then you can just pass them as command line arguments in com.apple.mrj.application.parameters= line of the MRJApp.properties file. I worked around it by including a config file in my bundle and passing it as a parameter with an explicit path, like this

com.apple.mrj.application.parameters=./Foo.app/Contents/Resources/Fooconfigfile

The problem is that it breaks if you rename the bundle. Just though I'd mention it in case you run into that.
 
Gracias for the tip. Pretty slick workaround for the space issue. Did you want to slap the idiot who used spaces in a published app?
I'm wondering with the latest Java 1.3.1 Update if that MRJAppBuilder issue becomes mute. Here's a snippet from the update details.......

========
Java 1.3.1 Update

This update delivers improvements for text, mouse, and printing components in the Java 1.3.1 implementation for Mac OS X, and improves its overall stability and compatibility.

The implementation of text components has been completely updated, resolving a number of issues found in the use of TextAreas and TextFields.

For more details, see the Java for Mac OS X Release Notes at http://developer.apple.com/techpubs/java/
========

Could be, could be not.
 
Originally posted by Klink
Gracias for the tip. Pretty slick workaround for the space issue. Did you want to slap the idiot who used spaces in a published app?
I'm wondering with the latest Java 1.3.1 Update if that MRJAppBuilder issue becomes mute. Here's a snippet from the update details.......
Click to expand...

I blame Apple for the string parsing business. Anyway, they are redoing the whole Metaframe farm and promised to take the spaces out. Good point about the Java update. I'll check. Thanks.
 
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