Epoch Proxy Laptop Section 1: Group Members and Contributions

Samuel Asakiewicz – Section 2, Remote Desktop Subsection

Rodrigo Gualberto – Section 2, Hardware Subsection and related references

Jan Cruz – Section 3 and related references

Gregory Stormes – Section 4, Integration of all sections together

Section 2:

Software (Remote Desktop) Aspects:

Remote desktop applications fill a broad spectrum of uses, with each program catering to a specific group of individual with their unique feature sets. Client-server model are generally setup such that a host machine with a user friendly operating system with the aid of a graphical user interface (GUI) will access a remote machine which may be a dedicated server or may be a user friendly operating system. The most basic operation of a Remote desktop application is the remote frame buffer protocol (RFB protocol). It is a simplistic connection protocol in which the remote machine will send each frame rectangular screen data to the host machine, which will send mouse and keyboard inputs to the remote machine. More advanced remote desktops clients will allow multiple host machines to access and run separate session on a single remote machine which will run multiple virtual desktops, acting as a terminal machine. More Specialized software will allow processing on the aggregate of the two or more machines resources, instead of it all being done on the remote machine.

The most universal remote desktop software is Remote Desktop Connection, which come as part of the windows operating system. Any pc running Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7 either has Remote desktop on it, or can freely download it from the microsoft.com. It is included on windows server 2003 and 2008 and is available on windows mobile and Mac OS X. The purpose of Microsoft's remote desktop service is to provide a capable GUI for the client machine allowing it to fully access all of the windows functionality of the remote machine. Due to its wide spread across multiple type of machines, Remote desktop connection is overwhelmingly available to all windows user, allowing for easy access to any other type of machine which supports remote desktop.

Microsoft, with remote desktop in mind, has developed operating systems, design to run on old or limited hardware. The intention of the OS is to allow the repurposing of aged useless machines to run a slimmed down version of the operating system, giving it basic functionality above running an archaic operating system such as Windows 95 or prior operating systems. Most importantly is the capability to use remote desktop connection to enable it's usage as a thin-client in a client-server setup, granting it functionality based of the processing and resources of a server machine. The slimmed down version based of windows XP is Windows is "Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs" (WinFLP). The newest operating system based off windows 7 is Thin PC (WinTPC).

Alongside Microsoft's Remote Desktop Connection, there is an extraordinary amount of commercial, personal, and open source licensed remote desktop software. There is remote desktop software built to run on any common operating systems in use today. The vast majority of this software's run in a manner similar to Remote Desktop Connect but with their own set of features. While others have more specialized purpose such as remote access to monitor the basics of a server, or turning tens to hundreds of computers into thin-pc's which all run virtual desktops concurrently on a single dedicated server.