Archive for February, 2013

Test: Using IGEL Linux based Thin Clients together with Citrix CloudGateway Enterprise

Friday, February 15th, 2013

Hi Folks,

today i’ve tested the IGEL Universal Desktop LX/OS together with Citrix XenApp 6.5, XenDesktop 5.6 and VDI in a Box 5.2 and Citrix CloudGateway Enterprise (LAN and WAN thru Citrix Netscaler).

I’ve used the internal Webbrowser coming with the IGEL Linux for the connection, in both cases (LAN and WAN) it works like a charm. For my test i’ve used the IGEL Firmware 4.11.100.

CloudGateway thru IGEL Universal Desktop LX Webbrowser

 …and connected to a session (XenApp 6.5)

 

Connection thru CloudGateway to XenApp 6.5


If you plan to upgrade your Citrix Environment to CloudGateway this should work for you, so the IGEL Linux based Clients seams to be ready for the new Citrix products. Official i’ve read no confirmation from IGEL about this, so in anyway you should test this to confirm the results. If you discover issues here feel free to contact me.

Update: I forgot, in the screenshots the Desktop Connections to XenApp,XenDesktop and VDI in a Box are missing but i works also fine for me.

Cheers
Michael

P.S.: The old PNAgent Service Site is now called “Legacy” in Citrix products…..

Tip: Setting up a disclaimer for public used IGEL Linux based Terminals.

Friday, February 15th, 2013

Good morning,

i’ve been asked if it is possible to Setup a public dislaimer with use Terms for the IGEL LX/OS based Clients.

This can be done but the configuration is hidden in the registry, open the local IGEL Setup or the UMS Profile and browse to system->registry->userinterface->disclaimer. Here you will find several Settings to configure the disclaimer, the disclaimer will pop up after a boot and prevent Access until the disclaimer is confirmed or perform a shutdown/reboot after the user denied the disclaimer.

Cheers
Michael

I’ve to calm down or how stupid could a hardware vendor be.

Thursday, February 14th, 2013

Hi Folks,

to calm down a little bit… First of all this is not related to IGEL!!!

The Story:

You got a expensive Laptop with an Intel I7 CPU Quad Core, 16 GB RAM, two 250GB SSD drives (one via a Optical Disc Drive Extension Slot/Case) and then you start to install Windows 8 Pro, Windows Server 2012 or what ever and everything is working fine. Now you want to start with virtualization and you go to the BIOS and want to enable the VT Feature for the CPU… Wait… There is no VT Feature in the BIOS? Where is it? The Vendor (in this case A**r but others are not better) do not provide this? Ok, of course it would be a missing feature so you try to contact the Support and try to move the lines up to the Product Manager. Always the same answer: We did not advertise VT and VT will not available for this laptop?!? Taken to much drugs?

Ok, in this case A**r did not advertise VT but for my unterstanding Intel do advertise this as a default CPU feature and disabling this native CPU feature was also not advertised: So are you crazy or better in what time do some Hardware Vendors life? Mid-Age? Stone-Age? Virtualization is a Windows 8 Pro / Consumer OS standard feature (Thank you Microsoft!!!) and nothing special since years also for a lot of other end users and why should someone pay a lot of money for a high end device that comes with a clear design fault (…and this fault is not related to the Hardware! It’s related to humans designing something like that!).

At the end i was able to solve it, first of all i used an older BIOS for this Laptop where a developer forgot to disable the VT related BIOS flags (thanks, someone with common sense is sometimes rare!). These VT Flags are disabled in later (!) BIOS Versions and of course nobody(!) mentioned it in the official BIOS release notes (Common sense gone, great job guy’s! …are you sure you’re doing the right job?  😉 ).

Now iam working fine with a custom build BIOS made by my own, it’s much simpler as it sounds; if you are familar with IT and if you got the same issue you should get a look here http://marcansoft.com/blog/2009/06/enabling-intel-vt-on-the-aspire-8930g/ or here http://www.tempusfugit.ca/sitewatch/bios_menu.html or here http://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Forum-Insyde-Bios-Unlocking-Requests. Of course you should be serious, you do modify your Hardware BIOS on your own risk. Depending on the Hardware maybe a modified BIOS Version’s is already available, check at google.

Why do i wrote this here? I believe there will be a lot of other guy’s be interested in these work arounds and to get Hyper-V or any other VT related solutions to work without be intrested in “What a Product Manager thing’s to enable or disable for the customer”.

If you don’t get it, build it by your own!

Update: I´ve also the opinion that these Vendors should not be allowed to offer Windows 8 Pro as update or directly with a device where elementary CPU features are disabled and this results in an OS limitation. For me this is cheating on the highest level and the argument which was told by the support was mostly: We’re not able to test or support this feature! What a joke, testing was already done by Intel or other CPU Vendors. Fact is, these vendors want to sale the more expensive enterprise devices/laptop’s and this is the only reason. I really get angry and i’am glad that not all vendors do the same.

Cheers
Michael

P.S.: That’s one reason why i really don’t like some major Hardware Vendor’s and when the same vendor’s starting blaming the market because they have a serious sales issue.. Yes, i can unterstand this and your PM should start thinking about building limitations without any sense for expensive high end consumer products. Customers like me don’t like this and will prefer an other Vendor the next time, this is a promise.

Unofficial IGEL FAQ Project launched

Tuesday, February 12th, 2013

Hi Folks,

today we launched the Unofficial IGEL FAQ Project to provide you simple access to FAQ’s. The Unofficial IGEL FAQ Project can be found here: www.cloud-client.info or as direct link thru the right menu in this Blog.

Please note, we do not provide any warranty to the use of this FAQ and you’re required to test and confirm everything by your own.

The FAQ Project starts with over 100 IGEL related FAQ’s related to all possible Topics like Hardware Support, Trouble Shooting and much more.

Have Fun

Michael

Windows 8, Metro Style Apps and Sysprep

Friday, February 8th, 2013

Hi,

very often i got an issue with Windows 8 and Metro Styles Apps, the issue is quite simple… If some user has updated the Metro Style Default Apps coming with Windows 8, syprep will not work anymore. There are some descriptions on TechNet how to fix it but in reality this fix doesn’t work or don’t provide the result it should be.

I don’t know why Microsoft has implemented the handling for Metro Apps in this way but from my opinion this is really a poor design how to handle the default Apps during a Sysprep and strongly needs to be fixed or changed if this is really a “design” related issue (I know nobody solving this issue with the three mentioned solutions in the TechNet Article to get Sysprep working again!).

So if you have to deal with Windows 8 for VDI/Provisioning don’t deal with the Metro App’s in any way on your Master Image(s)!

Cheers
Michael

P.S.: I forgot, Windows 2012 shows the same behavior…. 🙁

Upcoming IGEL Dual Core devices…

Thursday, February 7th, 2013

Hi Folks,

if you visit the IGEL Website you maybe noticed the CeBit disclaimer/Ad, in this Ad IGEL announces the presentation for upcoming Dual Core devices (UD3 and UD5). Currently no Information about the exact release date is mentioned here but it should be during 2013. Also it looks that these devices will not directly replace the UD3 or UD5, so these devices would be seperate devices like “UD3 Dual Core” or similar.

Cheers
Michael

P.S.: IGEL also announced the Windows Embedded 8 Standard Client for the CeBit presentation too… But without an exact release date.

IGEL announces RDP 8 support for Windows ES 7 (Windows 7 based) devices for end of February

Thursday, February 7th, 2013

Hi Folks,

IGEL announced RDP 8 support for Windows ES 7 based devices, read also here: https://www.igel.com/company/press-media/press-releases/single-view/article/igels-latest-firmware-update-integrates-microsoft-rdp-80-with-new-remotefx-features-for-a-better.html

Cheers
Michael

P.S.: I’ve got already some request regarding RDP8 for Linux, it will follow for sure but needs some more development from IGEL incl. certification thru Microsoft and can not be compared with incl. “just” the RDP8 Client from Microsoft for Windows 7 based Systems. So don’t panic, iam quite sure it will follow!

Tip: Mousewheel is not working after optimizing a profile from IGEL Linux 3 to IGEL Linux 4

Wednesday, February 6th, 2013

Hi Folks,

if you are using older IGEL LX based Thin Clients like the Compact 3210 LX (IGEL Linux 3) and you just migrate to new Universal Desktop LX devices you might want to keep your old profiles in the IGEL Universal Management Suite.  In general this upgrade (“Profile optimized for” in the UMS Console) works fine but if you have configured a Wheelmouse in the old Profile: You have to configure this again after you “upgraded” the Profile to an Universal Desktop LX firmware.

Thanks to the Lady for sharing this information with us, i did not note it before.

Cheers
Michael

cloud-client.info mainsite is now online

Saturday, February 2nd, 2013

Hi Folks,

to provide a simple access for the downloads a mainsite is now online via www.cloud-client.info. I’ve wrote the site without spending to much time in it but it should be enough if you’re looking for a fast file access.

Cheers

Michael

P.S.: I will change the colors for the download sites later and the rating for the files is based on the download stats.

Tip: Fixing mouse pointer issues with IGEL Universal Desktop LX/OS

Friday, February 1st, 2013

Hi Folks,

this is really rare but sometimes it might happen that you have issues with the display of a mouse pointer in an ICA or RDP session. If this is the case, try first this setting: IGEL Setup or Profile->System->Registry->x.xserver0.sw_cursor

Mostly this will fix the issue.

Cheers
Michael