# Not thin, not thick, but lazy


I'm trying to move my noisy server to the cellar I'm left with the
question how do I cater for my desktop computer needs. I would be nice
to have a thin client, but then you have the problem that local devices
do not work: because you are actually working on the server, it needs to
"know" somehow that you have locally inserted an USB disk. This sucks.

So how about a thick client, a client with enough power to run a full
blown Linux distro. This works but has the following disadvantages:

 * more hard disks that can break
 * more maintenance of the machine
 * FANS, which make NOISE

What I need is a machine that is something of a cross between a thin and
a thick client. Let's call it a *lazy* client. With a lazy client, you
will get the low maintenance of a thin client, with the power of a thick
client.

# Lazy client
My lazy client is a Linux machine, which is not too powerful, but fast
enough do most of the jobs. The requirements for such a machine are:

 * no hard disk
 * no fans
 * no local configuration
 * enough memory
 * fast video card

In short I should be able to play video/music, develop my programs, next
to the normal desktop chores.

 Implementation
I'm still pondering this, but I'm thinking of the following:

 * mount `/home` via NFS from the server
 * boot from USB or cdrom (with a r/w live like system)
 * any configuration would be done via
   [puppet](http://reductivelabs.com/projects/puppet/). Also
   see 
   [this blog](/2008/february/02/puppet_with_git/index.html)
   but preferable no configuration what so ever is needed on the client
 * user management via `LDAP` or just rsync `/etc/passswd` and friends to
   the client. I prefer a `LDAP` solution.