We have a repeating video problem that started right after we upgraded to ThinManager 6.0.  We have an Advantech 3072 thin client, with one of the 6200 graphics cards fitted.  If we run the two displays at 1920 x 1080 we see 16bit color, but if the displays are spanned, then its dropping to 8bit.  Do you know if this is down to a lack of memory on the graphics card, or is it a limitation of ThinManager 6 ?

Sounds like it is a known problem with Server 2003. There is a Microsoft patch for it at: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/942610

-TM

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I  would like to run ThinManager from Internet Explorer for the purpose of terminal shadowing – is this possible?

This is not possible nor are we planning on implementing it. Shadowing, by design, is only allowed from within ThinManager to maintain a high level of security.

-TM  

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To view our “Tips & Gems” video tutorials, visit our video links page here.

To review cost savings of using the ThinManager Platform, visit our ROI Calculator here.

To read about successful ThinManager Platform deployments, visit here.

To see when the next ThinManager 2-Day Training Session is being offered, visit here.

We are in the middle of a system upgrade to Windows Server 2008R2 and Citrix Xenapp 6.5 for our terminal servers in a ThinManager environment.  To test the new system,  I set up an application and have been trying to run it as an application link and I can’t get it to work. I keep getting the following error message:

"Connection Error- The application you are trying to open is currently unavailable"

If I logon on to the desktop without using application link, I can run the program from the run prompt using the same text string and it works.  Any ideas?

The short answer is that ThinManager will function properly using Citrix in a ThinManager environment via Windows Server 2008R2.  Please see the enclosed link for tech notes regarding getting ThinManager and Citrix:

http://www.thinmanager.com/kb/index.php/Xen_App_6_Fundamentals

-TM

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I am trying to setup a terminal, with 2 separate clients.  The first client is running a Rockwell FT View SE client from a server.  The second client is a workstation (PC). 

When configuring the terminal, I can only setup a single user login.  I setup the login to our server application.  As a result, I have to perform a manual login to the workstation.

Is it possible to specify two separate logins within the ThinManager terminal configuration so that I can have the client automatically login to both sessions?

You need to setup an override.

Double click on your terminal > Next until you come to the Display Client Selection Page > Select the Workstation Display Client > Override > Check the Override box in Windows Login Settings and specify your credentials.

-TM  

__________________________________________

To view our “Tips & Gems” video tutorials, visit our video links page here.

To review cost savings of using the ThinManager Platform, visit our ROI Calculator here.

To read about successful ThinManager Platform deployments, visit here.

To see when the next ThinManager 2-Day Training Session is being offered, visit here.

Could you please advise me what configuration is required on a Windows PC to allow for a WinTMC session to span multiple monitors? We found the configuration on the thin server but still can’t get the WinTMC session to maximize across both monitors on the client system.

It is almost the same process as setting up MultiMonitor for a thin client.  In the terminal configuration wizard select Enable MultiMonitor, select the resolution of your monitors, and setup the layout of the sessions.  If you choose the resolution that your monitors are running at it should open full screen across both monitors once it’s received its configuration.

-TM

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I am in the process of evaluating ACP ThinManager and had a quick question.  We currently have a few legacy systems that are on Windows NT 4.0 and are in the process of being virtualized.  I would like to use ThinManager and a thin client to connect to the Virtual Server, is this possible?

We have not tested ThinManager against a Windows NT 4.0 System. It might work against NT 4.0 Terminal Server Edition but the oldest OS we have tested with is Server 2000 and we cannot guarantee any level of stability or performance.

You will not be able to install ThinManager onto your NT4.0 System as ThinManager 6.0 requires .NET Framework 4.0, which is only supported in Windows Server 2003 and above. If you have ThinManager setup on a Win2003+ Server and tell the Terminal to start a session on the 4.0 box, you might have some luck.

There are no known issues connecting a ThinManager Terminal to a Virtual Terminal Server.

I would like to recommend that you try ThinManager 6.0 SP3 (our latest release) with a demo code to see if you can connect. You can grab an install and a demo code from: http://downloads.thinmanager.com/

Also, our Compatibility Matrix has information on which OS’s are compatible with ThinManager.

http://www.thinmanager.com/kb/index.php/Compatibility_Matrix

-TM  

__________________________________________

To view our “Tips & Gems” video tutorials, visit our video links page here.

To review cost savings of using the ThinManager Platform, visit our ROI Calculator here.

To read about successful ThinManager Platform deployments, visit here.

To see when the next ThinManager 2-Day Training Session is being offered, visit here.

Almost fourteen years ago, ACP released ThinManager as a centralized management solution for the modern factory.  Since then, ThinManager has evolved into a complete platform that manages clients and their connections to servers, as well as a myriad of applications and visual resources.  While most of the evolution of ThinManager can be attributed to a handful of dedicated programmers and the vision of CEO Matt Crandell, the impetus for most of the features has come from the changing needs of ThinManager end users.  Most notably, is MultiMonitor, one of the most used and most versatile of the wide range of ThinManager Platform features.

MultiMonitor is Born

Developed in 2006, MultiMonitor first appeared in ThinManager 3.0 after ACP developers identified aglaring need for advancement of the technology being used by factory network engineers.  Randy Cannady, Director of Engineering at ACP, explained to us how ACP made the decision to develop MultiMonitor.  “We had end users who needed higher resolutions.  They were starting to use thin clients on the floor but still had multiple PCs and multiple monitors in their Control Rooms to monitor all of the processes.  We knew it would make more sense to eliminate the need for the PCs and additional keyboards so we went to work developing MultiMonitor.  We knew we could program it, but it would require the right thin client hardware.  That’s when we contacted Arista.”

Building a Stronger Partnership

Dating back to 2004, Arista had been a hardware partner with ACP as one of a small handful of manufacturers producing true industrial thin clients.  “After years of supplying hardware to ThinManager users, ACP asked us if we could develop a new ThinManager enabled thin client with multiple video outputs and no fans,” stated Thao Le, Vice President at Arista Corporation.  At that time, most thin clients used fans for internal cooling.  But the problem with deploying them in an industrial application is that the fans bring in dust and any airborne particles, which greatly reduces the life cycle of the hardware.  “The only alternative is to create a “clean room” which is almost impossible in an industrial environment.  So we started to engineer a completely new thin client,” said Thao.

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

Randy and the development team at ACP had delivered their hardware partner a difficult request.  They knew they needed a client with multiple video processors and video ports, but adding additional hardware to the client without the use of fans was going to require an entirely new approach to the philosophy and design of the current industrial hardware landscape.  Thao explained the development process of what would eventually become the Box 140PC / Box 240PC.  “We first started by taking an older unit with a video card in a PCI slot and adding additional video ports.  Technically it worked, but the Windows based Thermal Monitoring System kept shutting down the unit to prevent overheating.  From there we re-engineered the client case by improving our thermal module with the addition of copper piping to draw heat away, as well as adding a heat blocking thermal chamber and adopting a vertical card design to allow heat to flow up into a heat plate to keep it from getting trapped inside the case.”

MultiMonitor Grows Legs

From 2006 to 2009, the ACP development team continued to improve on the base functionality of MultiMonitor using the newly designed Arista clients.  Eventually, ThinManager 3.3 was released, which added full support for MultiMonitor, including multiple layout templates for end users to choose from.  The response from end users showed ACP that MultiMonitor was a total success.  “Once we released ThinManager 3.3, the uptake rate was the fastest of any feature we had ever released, primarily for the Control Room application,” said Randy.  “Even today, it continues to be one of the most commonly deployed features of the current ThinManager Platform.” 

Under the Hood

Today, MultiMonitor allows users to seamlessly display up to five screens on a single client and is still the only platform on the market to allow the client to display a different session on each of the five screens.  In addition, MultiMonitor can span a single session across multiple monitors and even supports Touchscreens.  With multiple configurations and layouts to choose from, ThinManager has created the most versatile process management feature of any platform available today.

The Evolution Continues

Not content with MultiMonitor, Randy and the team at ACP went back to the drawing board and came upwith a way to further enhance this technology in conjunction with the Arista MultiMonitor clients.  “After releasing MultiMonitor there was discussion about allowing multiple mice and keyboards to allow multiple users to work off one client, which led to MultiStation, our newest feature release. It only requires a single ThinManager ready Arista thin client that already has multiple USB ports for extra input devices.  So by combining MultiMonitor and MultiSession, we can separate each display for individual users and span multiple sessions that exist on a single monitor.” 

Products Evolve with Partnerships

After a decade of partnership, we asked Thao how ACP and Arista continue to work so well together.  “The reason why our relationship with ACP is so successful is because we have been working closely with them for a long time.  When you buy an Arista box and ThinManager, you are buying a complete solution.  We run ThinManager in our office so we can continue to provide support as new versions and features of ThinManager are released by ACP.  Troubleshooting the software and hardware at the same time makes sure they work seamlessly together.  We continue to work closely to give the customer complete support for their entire system.“

Register for our MultiMonitor Webinar on 5/1 by clicking here.

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To download or print the PDF version of this story click here.

To view our “Tips & Gems” video tutorials, visit our video links page here.

To review cost savings of using the ThinManager Platform, visit our ROI Calculator here.

To read about successful ThinManager Platform deployments, visit here.

To see when the next ThinManager 2-Day Training Session is being offered, visit here.

We recently added an EloGraphics E719160 touchscreen to our ThinManager system and are having an issue.  The unit responds to touches, but does not respond to the calibration utility?  Will ThinManager work with this touchscreen client?

When using a USB touchscreen device, you need to unplug any other USB devices that might be plugged in. After successfully calibrating the unit, you can then plug your other USB devices into the unit.

-TM

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http://www.thinmanager.com/kb/index.php/ThinManager_and_PXE_Boot is a Knowledge Base article on PXE boot.

-TM  

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If you want to ‘merge’ two existing ThinManager Installations, you will have to go in and manually add the thin clients on the server. There is no method to append your existing ThinManager Installation.

-TM

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When using the VMware VCenter function within ThinManager a display client can connect to a Virtual Machine, is it possible to use a thin client connected to a virtual machine running Windows NT?

Windows NT (Windows 3.1 – 4.0) is not supported.  Please see the Compatibility Matrix for a list of supported versions and operating systems:

http://www.thinmanager.com/kb/index.php/Compatibility_Matrix

-TM  

__________________________________________

To view our “Tips & Gems” video tutorials, visit our video links page here.

To review cost savings of using the ThinManager Platform, visit our ROI Calculator here.

To read about successful ThinManager Platform deployments, visit here.

To see when the next ThinManager 2-Day Training Session is being offered, visit here.

What would be the maximum number of thin clients a pair of ThinManager servers can support?   Can you provide a number for how many simultaneous thin client bricks and sessions have been tested and confirmed by ACP?

Thin Client (hardware count) isn’t going to be your limiting factor, ThinManager can manage an unlimited amount of thin clients.  We have numerous customers who use hundreds of thin clients from one pair of servers.  Our internal testing has shown that once you have ~10,000 (sic) thin clients in ThinManager, ThinManager will become slow to load and exhibit less than desirable performance.  The scalability bottleneck is going to be on your application side, meaning the better question to ask your software provider is “What type of/how much hardware will I need given X amount of sessions”.

-TM

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According to our compatibility list, 10d3 is a supported network adapter whereas 10EA is not. Update the unit’s BIOS to the latest available and make sure PXE boot is setup properly and you should be good to go.

-TM  

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We are using WinTMC 6.0 and we can’t to connect to ThinManager (6.0).  Currently set up on Server 2008 R2 using a machine with the 64 bit version of Windows 7.  Is this a known issue?

You need to install the latest version of WinTMC, 2.2.0.3.  It can be found at downloads.thinmanager.com. This is the version that shipped with ThinManager 6.0 with Service Pack 3.

-TM

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I’m trying to run sound files through my thin client and I do not have a sound card in any of my servers, so I am using the sound device available in our Advantech UNO-2173 thin clients. When I add the generic sound driver we get a tada wav file sound, but then the client will not play any additional sound bites.  The I get the following windows message:

“Windows media player cannot play the file because there is a problem with your sound device. There might not be a sound device installed on your computer, it might be in use by another program, or it might not be functioning properly“

Any ideas how to correct this?

It sounds when you rebooted the thin client, the existing RDP connection remained intact. You will need to reset the session and sound should work correctly.

Start > Run > tsadmin.msc > Server Name > Sessions Tab > Right click on the RDP session and go to ‘Reset’

-TM  

__________________________________________

To view our “Tips & Gems” video tutorials, visit our video links page here.

To review cost savings of using the ThinManager Platform, visit our ROI Calculator here.

To read about successful ThinManager Platform deployments, visit here.

To see when the next ThinManager 2-Day Training Session is being offered, visit here.

We are planning system upgrades at one of our facilities and are currently running ThinManager 3.1 with two ThinServers.  To reduce the amount of work to be done when we take the facility offline, we want to upgrade ThinManager to the current version (6.3) while we are still in production. Are there any tech notes or “best practices” documents available for doing this?

-TM

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I had a question regarding ThinManager compatibility.  The Compatibility Matrix on your website says that Windows 2008R2 is supported as a ThinServer with the current version of ThinManager 6.0.  Are there any known issues using a Synced Redundant Pair of ThinServers in which one Server is the 2003R2 SP2 32bit, and the other is a 2008R2 64 bit machine? 

You shouldn’t run into any issues synching between different operating systems. Keep in mind that a path that might be valid on the 64 bit machine might not be valid on the 32 bit machine.  64 bit machines have a Program Files (x86) directory where 32 bit applications get stashed as opposed to a 32 bit operating system where there is just the traditional Program Files directory.

-TM  

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I am looking for a hardware recommendation.  I need a fairly rugged ThinManager compatible thin client. However it needs to have one HDMI or DVI and one VGA connection on it.  Do you have any recommendations?

The Contec BX955D:

You would have to get a DVI-I to DVI+VGA Splitter (sold separately) but this client would work with Packages 5 & 6.

We would also recommend you check our Hardware Partner page to view a list of all available ACP compatible clients.

-TM

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We are replacing some old hardware and wanted to know if the Arista 7824 thin client is compatible with ThinManager 3.1?

Yes. It will work with ThinManager 3.1 SP2.

-TM  

__________________________________________

To view our “Tips & Gems” video tutorials, visit our video links page here.

To review cost savings of using the ThinManager Platform, visit our ROI Calculator here.

To read about successful ThinManager Platform deployments, visit here.

To see when the next ThinManager 2-Day Training Session is being offered, visit here.

I currently have ThinManager 6.0 Service Pack 1 installed.  I want to install Service Pack 3 but I’m not sure if it also includes Service Pack 2 features.  Do I need to install SP2 before installing SP3?

-TM

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We were wondering what kind of functionality we would get with the Wyse thin client tied in to ThinManager via PXE Boot. Does it manage the firmware, have shadowing support, smart session support? Will it function the same as a “ThinManager Ready” thin client?

Supported PXE clients will behave exactly like ThinManager Ready thin clients.

-TM  

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I recently went to your site and used the “Demo Download” to try your product in our lab and was wondering what the difference is between a Demo Code and a Demo License?

The Demo Code is a 30-day license for new user evaluation or as an emergency license.

The Demo License is an official product license that works for a limited time period.  These are given to system integrators and often used on pilots or proof of concept trials.

-TM

I’d like to give our ThinManager users the ability to use a calibration program via a keyboard when their touchscreens need adjustment. Is there a documented process ACP has for setting this up, and if so would you please let me know where I can find it?

Section 16.15 of the manual covers it.  http://thinmanager.com/technotes/01_Intro/Manual60_SP3/TM6_SP3_Chapter16_Modules.pdf

All you need to do is click the configure button on the touch screen module and then set the Calibration Hotkey and Calibration Hotkey Modifier to what you want.

-TM

To view our “Tips & Gems” video tutorials, visit our video links page here.

To review cost savings of using the ThinManager Platform, visit our ROI Calculator here.

To read about successful ThinManager Platform deployments, visit here.

To see when the next ThinManager 2-Day Training Session is being offered, visit here.

Presented by Tim Caine (Chief Technology Officer) and Paul Burns (Director of Education), this new segment was spawned by the desire to give end users answers to many of the questions posed to our developers over the years and simply explain the full range of ThinManager’s flexibility and functionality beyond its basic features.  “Tips & Gems contains a lot of little known features that most users aren’t aware of,” said Tim.  “Over the years we have nuanced and added functionality to existing features based on customer feedback and ideas we had during the development process.”

Rather than posting a transcript of this segment of the TMUG Conference, we have begun creating short video tutorials that not only explain these Tips & Gems but also show how to implement them within ThinManager.  The first twenty short video tutorials can be found here.  Included are Tips & Gems explaining how to set display client options, keyboard and mouse configurations, RDP redirection, and how to set up security groups, just to name a few.

Many of these improved features answer the needs of end users in a way that might not be obvious at first glance.  We will continue to expand this growing video library of Tips & Gems to ensure that our customers get as much out of their ThinManager Platform features as possible.

Click here to watch Tips & Gems

To review cost savings of using the ThinManager Platform, visit our ROI Calculator here.

To read about successful ThinManager Platform deployments, visit here.

To see when the next ThinManager 2-Day Training Session is being offered, visit here.

We recently deployed ThinManager and want to configure our control room with two thin clients, each using 5 monitors (4 standard size TFT and 40″ TFT above). We want to have 1 InTouch display client spread across the 4 TFT screens.

Is it possible to get ThinManager to spread one display client across 4 screens similar to the extended desktop feature within windows? If so, is there any special client or hardware needed?

-TM

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We are running an older version of ThinManager (2.6) at this time, can I connect a printer to a thin client?

You would connect the printer via parallel port and configure the terminal with the local print module. Please see the enclosed KB articles as well as a copy of the 2.6 Manual.

http://www.thinmanager.com/kb/index.php/Printer_Installation

http://www.thinmanager.com/kb/index.php/Printing_from_Thin_Clients

http://thinmanager.com/technotes/00_archive/Intro/Manuals/ThinManager_26_Help.zip  

Note: Instructions on how to use the Local Print Module are on PDF Page 255

-TM  

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Can ThinManager be used to manage a Wyse ThinOS-based device?  I’ve seen some mention of Wyse S10’s but nothing detailed.

ThinManager can’t manage Wyse thin clients with the Wyse ThinOS, but there are quite a few Wyse models that you can PXE boot with ThinManager.  You just have to enable the PXE server in ThinManager and then enable LAN/PXE boot in the Wyse BIOS.

You can find more information about PXE booting clients in the manual or on our knowledge base, here:http://www.thinmanager.com/kb/index.php/ThinManager_and_PXE_Boot

I would like to display 4 separate Advantech 2053GL thin clients on a single 60″ Display,  is this possible with the current software?  If not can this be added to a future release?

We would recommend using the ThinManager Tiling feature. This will allow you to tile 4 separate Display Clients onto one monitor and allow control over each, as well as the ability to make a single Display Client Full Screen.

Tiling may be setup by double clicking on your terminal, adding more than one Display Client, and checking the “Enable Tiling” box on the Terminal Interface Options window in the Terminal Configuration Wizard.

-TM

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Our software works will all known versions of Citrix ICA.  Please see our Citrix ICA KB article for further details:

http://www.thinmanager.com/kb/index.php/Citrix_ICA

-TM

To review cost savings of using the ThinManager Platform, visit our ROI Calculator here.

To read about successful ThinManager Platform deployments, visit here.

To see when the next ThinManager 2-Day Training Session is being offered, visit here.