Old Wise Cyrix media GX 466 terminals

[rmay635703]

We are trying to send moving 3d illistrations and and video to certain Wyse terminals, our security policy causes the server to do the graphics computing which uses a lot of its limited power.

I remember long ago there was a utility that could calculate how many "resources" AKA CPU cycles, ram, etc it would take to run a video.

I am curious if any such thing exists for MP4s or PDFs so we could calculate (baseline) our different file types and how they would affect the server.

The odd part is smaller files sometimes take more resources, which I would guess refers to the type of compression.

This is vaguely old PC since these terminals are 366mhz Cyrix beasts

Cheers
Ryan

 

[krebizfan]

I know there are bunches of VDI calculators that might help. The only one I could find now though uses Java and doesn't like the system I am using. http://www.unidesk.com/resources/iops-calculator will explain some things. http://myvirtualcloud.net/?page_id=1076 should provide fuller estimates but it needs Java.

PDFs should be no problem with any reasonably modern server unless trying to run 10+ terminals for every core on the server. Page changes will be slow but that is normal even with very high powered local decoding.

MP4 and other video almost never works with a terminal. H.264 will require the dedicated use of a 2+ GHz Core2 or equivalent just to decode and about 2.5 MBs across the network per second per frame for 720p video. That is one core per video. Even with compression, each terminal running video will more than overwhelm a gigabit Ethernet link and will frequently have frames dropped or rendered incorrectly. I don't know if the old Cyrix chips have the capability to fully decode the compressed video so it may be worse.

 

[rmay635703]

I know there are bunches of VDI calculators that might help. The only one I could find now though uses Java and doesn't like the system I am using. http://www.unidesk.com/resources/iops-calculator will explain some things. http://myvirtualcloud.net/?page_id=1076 should provide fuller estimates but it needs Java.

PDFs should be no problem with any reasonably modern server unless trying to run 10+ terminals for every core on the server. Page changes will be slow but that is normal even with very high powered local decoding.

MP4 and other video almost never works with a terminal. H.264 will require the dedicated use of a 2+ GHz Core2 or equivalent just to decode and about 2.5 MBs across the network per second per frame for 720p video. That is one core per video. Even with compression, each terminal running video will more than overwhelm a gigabit Ethernet link and will frequently have frames dropped or rendered incorrectly. I don't know if the old Cyrix chips have the capability to fully decode the compressed video so it may be worse.

The "video" is an animation and is about 640x400 by 12FPS, the even the cyrix core should be able to decode that.

The trouble with the PDFs is the fact that video or 3d models are embedded.

 

[krebizfan]

I would suggest doing a follow up at the support forum for the specific package used to remotely connect the Wyse terminals. The Wyse support forums have not been shut down by Dell so that might also help. I can go with general experience I have. Some of the tasks you have I have never tried. Other people may have attempted your planned configuration and know how it would work.

Smaller videos do make it easier. Many of the compression schemes used to connect terminal to server will save an extra 10% on bandwidth for every doubling of CPU usage. You will probably benefit from using as little compression as possible, clogging the network to reduce CPU load.

With the PDFs, it depends on exactly what files are wrapped inside the PDF. I never tried the PDF wrapper of 3D over a terminal link. My guess is that it would be about the same load as the small videos being used. The resultant latency will make usage annoying even if the system can handle the load.

Guess: Each terminal would require about 1 GHz worth of performance out of one core on the server. So figure out what performance the server requires for everything else it is doing and then see if you have enough left over to handle all the terminals. Unless you heavily overprovisioned, you will only be able to handle a few terminals without either buying a new server or causing the server to bog down. You should have enough spare resources to run a test with one terminal and determine if old Wyse terminals will suffice or if newer devices will be needed.