What Is a Network Computer?

Network computer is an interactive information device under client computing mode. The analysis of typical application behavior on it is of great significance for processor design and system development. A network computer is a computer used on a network, but it removes traditional hard disks, floppy disks, and other components. It is a thin PC, and the server provides programs or storage on the network. Network computers have their own processing capabilities, but in addition to the core software, other software needs to be downloaded from the network server, saving frequent software upgrades and maintenance, and reducing costs.

Considered to be 1995

due to

Widely used in government e-government, military special network, banks, enterprises and institutions, and large, middle and primary schools, and families,

A network computer is a client device that runs a multi-user Windows 2000 Server system through a remote display protocol. It works as follows: terminal and server pass

1 Zero management and zero maintenance, compared with the traditional PC and diskless network system, greatly reduce the workload of maintenance personnel, almost all problems can be performed through the remote server.
2 Support cross-platform, cross-system (such as Window, Linux system) operation.
3 strong security protection. Compared with the traditional PC and diskless network system, the overall security of the system has been greatly improved. There is almost no hacked place on the NC side and it cannot be infected by viruses.

4 greatly reduces the total cost of ownership (TCO), the cost of upgrading is much lower than the PC or diskless station, as long as the server side is properly upgraded, the terminal itself does not need any upgrade.
5 Safe and efficient data protection mechanism. All user data is stored on the server. Even if a vicious event such as power failure is encountered, user data will not be lost. After a call, it can be fully restored to the working state before power failure.
The 6 networking modes are flexible and diverse, and can be used in both the local LAN environment and the remote WAN mode. It can be flexibly matched with traditional PCs to form a practical, economical, efficient and secure application network.
7 Effectively reduce software cost investment. As long as the application software is installed once on the server side, the entire system can be used, which greatly reduces the initial purchase cost of the software.
8 The overall system is fast to install and debug. The NC terminal only needs to be configured once, and it is almost unnecessary to configure it later. It is easy to use and requires little training to master and use it normally. ^[1]

NC (Network Computer) is essentially a streamlined PC. The purpose is to use as few software and hardware as possible to build the NC system and reduce the user's "Total Cost of Ownership". After the reduction, the Mini-Linux system is usually stored in DOC or DOM (Disk On Module). Based on the TCP / IP protocol, it uses the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) / Independent Computer Architecture (ICA) protocol to communicate with The server system coordinates communication. In 1997, Microsoft obtained authorized multi-user NT technology from Citrix. At the same time, it officially recognized and accepted the thin-layer client / server system's presentation layer protocol ICA and supported the thin client / server system. , Multi-user versions of Windows NT, NT5.0 and later. Prior to this, Citrix successfully developed multi-user NT, WinFrame. In June 1998, Microsoft released a formal English version of Windows NT Server 4.0 Terminal Server Edition. (Terminal server has become a standard service in Windows 2000). Microsoft claims: "This new technology will bring enterprise customers a new extension to the Windows computing environment, including lower total cost of ownership, familiar 32-bit Windows user interface, and a powerful and diverse family of Windows operating systems."
Based on the NC thin client / server system, this new network architecture represents a new level and new trend in the development of world network technology. The diskless Win95 architecture has fallen behind. Microsoft has completely abandoned this old architecture. Microsoft has replaced the diskless Win95 with a new WinNT terminal server. Under the existing conditions in China, the two should have their own advantages, and both will coexist for a long time. Where there are development needs and conditions, such as banks, taxation, government departments, etc., WinNT terminal server can be adopted as an emerging network architecture. And in places with limited conditions, such as schools, remote areas, etc., or where only DOS programs need to be run, you can still use the DOS diskless station based on NOVELL or NT and the Win95 diskless network.
Multi-user NT server The multi-user NT server system currently has two methods:
The first is to install terminal services software such as WinFrame or MetaFrame (CDS: Citrix Device Service) on the NT4.0 server. There are two types of WinFrame software:
The second is to directly use WTS (Windows NT4.0 Server Terminal Server Edition) or Windows 2000 Server / Windows 2003 Server.
This network system has higher requirements for server hardware. In addition to using high-performance CPUs, hard disks, and network cards as much as possible, there are special requirements for server memory. The terminal server itself requires 32MB of memory to run, and additional memory needs to be added for each client. Generally, each client needs 4-8 megabytes of server memory. ^[2]