Hi All,
I want to provide computing capabilities to small schools in my rural hometown in India. I'm trying to set this up by myself ( my brother is technically sound but isn't involved much ). Initially all the funding would be from my pocket, so I'm trying to keep the cost as low as possible.
I would be running a server (64c + 128GB RAM) which would host ubuntu desktop, server and a Windows server(to provide MS Office) using Proxmox. I have also configured OPNsense on this as a firewall, another LXC container to act as a tailscale subnet router.
I want to build a thin client project using rpi zero 2w. The reason for choosing the zero 2w is the cost itself. I can procure these devices for about 1500 INR (about 17-18 USD), plus mini hdmi adapter, sdcard and power supply brings the total cost to about 2000 INR(about 24 USD).
I'm thinking of deploying about 10-20 thinclients on one site.
Now, I have considered using used thin clients (DELLs, HPs etc), the pricing starts from about 3500-4000 INR (40-50 USD) upwards.
I do understand that they perform vastly better than any Pi model out there and are also quite efficient (plus the x86 arch gives flexibility), but I'm working alone for the most part and it would be difficult to set every thin client separately.
In case of rpi I can simply configure one rpi, image that sdcard and clone it to other sd cards to deploy in mass.
Another reason to consider Raspberry Pi(s) is that they are cross compatible for the most part, so even practically I should just be able to put the sd cards in other models( 3b or 4 if I get more funding) and it should keep on working.
I also considered that it would be more performant to setup a server on the site and rdp into it from the local network, however that includes setting up the server, managing it's security, setting up backup power, setting up local network etc etc, which brings up the initial cost out of my budget.
My current plan is to use tailscale in the pi zero 2w to connect to the server. Using tailscale keeps everything inside VPN network , so no exposure to internet, thereby reducing malicious attacks(but not completely secure of course).
I tested with RPi OS (64 bit) on the zero 2w and Remmina. The performance of RPi OS is horrible on the device, especially opening the browser and interacting with it. I initially wanted to use apache guacamole but with the abysmal performance I cannot use it.
I want to configure the Pi in such a way that upon booting it would execute some scripts to start the rdp client and connect to the server. I would also like to avoid much UI loading because that would eat up the limited resources.
From my testing, performance wise: SPICE > RDP > VNC . But I'm not sure if I can use spice for multiple user logging into windows RDP.
(Credits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNgmMxrnLn8 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuDrmq4RQzU <Apalrd>)
The remmina client is good, the over all experience is usable(excluding video streaming on rdp). But there's an issue wherein I cannot forward windows key, Alt+TAB etc key combinations into the RDP (this would be a huge deal breaker in terms of user experience). I'm not able to figure out the fix for it, pls suggest.
Or please suggest any other RDP client which is more performant that this and handles the key combos better.
But the RPi OS stutters, I have overclocked and put on a passive aluminium heat sink, but that didn't change things much.
I want suggestion that would make my overall architecture bit more efficient. Starting from the RPi OS itself. I wanted to use RPi OS Lite but then I couldnt get it to setup a light DM( also the lightdm).
Please suggest me any ideas to make this entire setup more efficient, ideas/scripts to automate any process etc.
I understand my entire process is janky, but this is the best I could come up with my limited knowledge keeping the cost in mind.
I would like to use mostly free and open source software to keep the cost less.
I want to provide computing capabilities to small schools in my rural hometown in India. I'm trying to set this up by myself ( my brother is technically sound but isn't involved much ). Initially all the funding would be from my pocket, so I'm trying to keep the cost as low as possible.
I would be running a server (64c + 128GB RAM) which would host ubuntu desktop, server and a Windows server(to provide MS Office) using Proxmox. I have also configured OPNsense on this as a firewall, another LXC container to act as a tailscale subnet router.
I want to build a thin client project using rpi zero 2w. The reason for choosing the zero 2w is the cost itself. I can procure these devices for about 1500 INR (about 17-18 USD), plus mini hdmi adapter, sdcard and power supply brings the total cost to about 2000 INR(about 24 USD).
I'm thinking of deploying about 10-20 thinclients on one site.
Now, I have considered using used thin clients (DELLs, HPs etc), the pricing starts from about 3500-4000 INR (40-50 USD) upwards.
I do understand that they perform vastly better than any Pi model out there and are also quite efficient (plus the x86 arch gives flexibility), but I'm working alone for the most part and it would be difficult to set every thin client separately.
In case of rpi I can simply configure one rpi, image that sdcard and clone it to other sd cards to deploy in mass.
Another reason to consider Raspberry Pi(s) is that they are cross compatible for the most part, so even practically I should just be able to put the sd cards in other models( 3b or 4 if I get more funding) and it should keep on working.
I also considered that it would be more performant to setup a server on the site and rdp into it from the local network, however that includes setting up the server, managing it's security, setting up backup power, setting up local network etc etc, which brings up the initial cost out of my budget.
My current plan is to use tailscale in the pi zero 2w to connect to the server. Using tailscale keeps everything inside VPN network , so no exposure to internet, thereby reducing malicious attacks(but not completely secure of course).
I tested with RPi OS (64 bit) on the zero 2w and Remmina. The performance of RPi OS is horrible on the device, especially opening the browser and interacting with it. I initially wanted to use apache guacamole but with the abysmal performance I cannot use it.
I want to configure the Pi in such a way that upon booting it would execute some scripts to start the rdp client and connect to the server. I would also like to avoid much UI loading because that would eat up the limited resources.
From my testing, performance wise: SPICE > RDP > VNC . But I'm not sure if I can use spice for multiple user logging into windows RDP.
(Credits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNgmMxrnLn8 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuDrmq4RQzU <Apalrd>)
The remmina client is good, the over all experience is usable(excluding video streaming on rdp). But there's an issue wherein I cannot forward windows key, Alt+TAB etc key combinations into the RDP (this would be a huge deal breaker in terms of user experience). I'm not able to figure out the fix for it, pls suggest.
Or please suggest any other RDP client which is more performant that this and handles the key combos better.
But the RPi OS stutters, I have overclocked and put on a passive aluminium heat sink, but that didn't change things much.
I want suggestion that would make my overall architecture bit more efficient. Starting from the RPi OS itself. I wanted to use RPi OS Lite but then I couldnt get it to setup a light DM( also the lightdm).
Please suggest me any ideas to make this entire setup more efficient, ideas/scripts to automate any process etc.
I understand my entire process is janky, but this is the best I could come up with my limited knowledge keeping the cost in mind.
I would like to use mostly free and open source software to keep the cost less.
Statistics: Posted by xplore1795 — Wed Apr 23, 2025 8:42 pm