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Wyse's New Winterm Raises Thin-Client Bar With Linux OS

July 26, 1999
By Dave Molta

Just as Citrix Systems leads the industry in thin-client software technology, Wyse Technologies dominates the Windows-based terminal (WBT) market. But if you expected Wyse to take a cautious approach to product introductions, tweaking what has worked in the past to maximize its profitability, you'd be wrong. Wyse is on the cutting edge of "thinnovation" with its Winterm 5355SE, a device that combines the features of a WBT with the flexibility of a desktop computer running the Linux OS. At the top of the feature list is the 5355SE's ability to support a local browser, a capability that eludes mainstream WBTs running Microsoft Windows CE. (For more on the current thin-client market, see "Thin Is Back In," www.networkcomputing. com/1013/1013f1.html.)


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For organizations that are high on thin-client computing but need more power than Windows CE has to offer, the 5355SE has great potential. Just be aware that running a full-function OS such as Linux on a thin client requires a few trade-offs. Linux provides tremendous application flexibility, but it also introduces much more complexity than you would see in mainstream Windows terminals. Wyse has worked hard to hide this complexity, but it has more to do before these devices can move from pilot test to production. In particular, it has to deliver a centralized management system similar to its WyseWorks Remote Administrator for the Winterm 2000 series terminals.

It's Running Linux, But Don't Tell
I tested a pre-release engineering sample of the 5355SE in Network Computing's Real-World Labs® at Syracuse University. At first I thought Wyse had mistakenly sent me a CE-based Winterm 3000 series WBT. Aside from slightly beefier memory capacity on the 5355SE--16-MB Flash and 40-MB RAM compared to 8-MB Flash and 16-MB RAM on the 3350--the boxes are identical. Powered by a National Semiconductor 200-MHz Media GX processor, this system is neatly designed and well-equipped, sporting 10/100 Ethernet, fast 1,280 x 1,024 video, dual serial ports, a parallel port, audio in and out, dual USB ports and a Type II PC Card slot.

Wyse's unique liquid-cooled processor inhibits overheating without a fan. The absence of moving parts means enhanced reliability and suitability in hostile environments, key selling points for thin-client hardware devices.

When I powered up the unit, it quickly became apparent that this was not a typical CE device. Our unit was preconfigured to boot Linux from Flash ROM. Although the documentation suggested otherwise, I was unable to boot the 5355SE from a Red Hat Linux server, a limitation acknowledged by Wyse that's soon to be corrected in a firmware revision. The 5355SE's user interface, based on the FVWM95 window manager, resembles the Windows 9x/NT 4.0 GUI, minus desktop icons. Applications are launched from a cascading menu system activated via a "Select" button, and you can switch between applications by activating them from a task bar at the bottom of the screen, again mimicking Microsoft Windows. There are a few subtle operational differences, including the shape and operation of the mouse cursor and a somewhat inconsistent look-and-feel between applications, but most Windows users will have an easy time adapting to this operating environment.

It's All in the Apps
The 5355SE does everything a WBT does, and much more. Its Citrix ICA (Independent Computer Architecture) client provides remote presentation services from a WinFrame or MetaFrame server. Wyse also includes a license to run Citrix Device Services, software that lets you access servers running Windows NT Terminal Server Edition (NTTSE) using ICA without having to purchase MetaFrame.

I tested the ICA capabilities on a Micron Pentium Pro 200 server with 128 MB of RAM running NTTSE Build 419 together with Citrix MetaFrame 1.8.

Performance was excellent, but I noted a lack of audio support in the 5355SE ICA client, a limitation of Citrix's current Linux ICA client. The 5355SE turned in a significantly faster benchmark score than the Network Computing Devices ThinStar 300 running ICA under Microsoft Windows CE.

Wyse includes terminal-emulation software supporting 15 terminal types, including VT420, TN5250 and TN3270. Although this support is not quite as elegant as commercial Windows terminal emulators, Wyse has included important features, such as macros and autoscaling fonts. I had no difficulty connecting to Sun Solaris and IBM mainframe host systems, and performance was good.

The key feature that differentiates the 5355SE from traditional WBTs is Wyse's support for a local browser, Wyse Navigator, which is based on Netscape Public License 1.0. From a usability standpoint, Wyse Navigator will be familiar to anyone who has run Netscape Navigator before. I found its performance to be very good, though it has some notable limitations. Color depth is only 8 bits, so images are limited to 256 colors and the product does not include a JVM (Java Virtual Machine) or support for popular plug-ins such as Adobe Acrobat. Wyse acknowledges these limitations but claims that the product will meet the needs of most sites. And because this box is based on Linux, Wyse has the luxury of running the entire Netscape Communicator suite in a future network-bootable version of the 5355SE.

As you might expect from a machine running Linux, the 5355SE also includes X-Windows support. The 5355SE X-Manager is functional, but it lacks important features such as XDM, which facilitates access to servers and application environments. After some trial and error, I successfully ran a variety of X applications, including a version of Word Perfect on a colleague's home cable-modem-attached Linux system, which worked great.

The 5355SE also supports session shadowing, a cross-platform remote-control capability based on AT&T's VNC (virtual network computing) technology. I was able to control the 5355SE remotely from a Windows NT machine running the VNC viewer software downloaded from AT&T's Web site, and it performed well.

Wyse has included a simple POP mail client with the 5355SE. IMAP would be a much better choice because of its server-based message store, but the memory footprint for a fully functional IMAP client is much greater. Wyse intends to meet this need in the future via support for Netscape Communicator accessed from a file server. The 5355SE includes an SCO Tarantella client that allows users to take advantage of SCO's application broker and Web-top application publishing environment. I did not have a Tarantella server running in the lab and Wyse was unable to provide access to one for testing.

At an estimated street price of $839 without monitor, the 5355SE costs significantly more than mainstream WBTs, which have dropped in price to about half that amount. While the initial device cost represents just a fraction of total cost of ownership, Wyse management may need to push costs down further to generate widespread interest in the 5355SE.

Send your comments on this article to Dave Molta at dmolta@nwc.com