Get Started
Home ThinLinc release notes ThinLinc 2.0.0 Release Notes

ThinLinc 2.0.0 Release Notes

Introduction

Cendio is very proud to present ThinLinc 2.0.0. With this release we introduce several major new features, including support for Smart Cards, integration with web portals, limited support for application publishing and a printer access control feature. The reliability and performance has also been greatly enhanced. In total, this release contains more than 100 enhancements.

Changes in This Release

For each enhancement, the enhancement number is given in parenthesis.

Server

  • ThinLinc works on most modern Linux distributions and Sun Solaris (R). This release has been extensively tested on the following platforms:
    • Red Hat (R) Enterprise Linux 5.1 (in 32-bit mode)
    • SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 SP1 (R) (in 32-bit mode)
    • Ubuntu (R) 7.10 (in 32-bit mode)
    • Sun Solaris (R) 10
  • Python 2.3 or newer is now required. (2574)
  • The session manager has been rewritten, using a new asynchronous framework. This gives a radically improved scalability but also better protection against malfunctioning and rogue clients. (113)
  • The profile selection dialog only displays profiles that are actually available on the system. For example, the KDE Desktop option will not be displayed if KDE is not installed. It is also possible to use the same mechanism to control profile availability based on other parameters such as group membership. (1259)
  • The license system honours license files with hard limits. It is not possible to start new sessions if all licenses are in use. (License files are currently delivered with a 10% margin.) (903)
  • The two new directories sessionstartup.d and sessionreconnect.d allows for executing programs on the VSM server host, as root, during the session startup and reconnect. (1617)
  • The translated server side programs, such as the profile selection dialog, now works correctly in environments using the ISO-8859-1 locale. (2399)
  • The user visible server side programs have been translated to Brazilian Portuguese. (2487)
  • The compatibility with Brazilian ABNT2 keyboard layouts has been improved. (2447)
  • The ThinLinc Administration module for Webmin is now compatible with the latest Webmin versions. (2476, 2477)
  • After logging in to Webmin, the ThinLinc Administration module is automatically displayed. (2578)
  • tl-setup can now correctly configure the font path on systems which uses "font catalogues". This includes Fedora 8. (2539)
  • The "homecreatefilter" feature uses the stat64() system call, for improved compatibility. (2463)
  • The license system has been adapted to support multiple concurrent sessions per user. One license is required for each pair of (username, client terminal identification). This means that sessions for a single user running from multiple client terminals requires multiple licenses. (2513)
  • Local drives are enabled by default at installation. (2625)

General

  • ThinLinc now supports multiple concurrent sessions using a single user name. Reconnecting to disconnected sessions can be done either using the policy used in Windows Terminal Services, or using a policy which provides greater control. It is also possible to configure how many sessions per user that should be allowed. (715)
  • The "thinlocal" and "nearest" print queues have been adapted to support multiple concurrent sessions per user. These queues will now redirect the print job based on the last connecting terminal. (2512)
  • Accessing local Smart Cards is now supported. This includes applications running on the ThinLinc server as well as applications on Windows Terminal Servers. (96)
  • The new "Printer Access Control" feature makes is possible to restrict access to certain print queues based on the connecting terminal. The list of available printers in applications only displays printers that are accessible. (240)
  • It is no longer necessary to manually create printer queues, since the system printers can be automatically imported. (555)
  • Usernames and passwords with characters outside ASCII (international characters) are now supported. (471)
  • The unencrypted Java Browser Client has been removed. Shadowing from the administration interface is now done using the native client. (612)
  • In previous versions, both the ThinLinc session manager and the system SSH daemon verified the user password at login. With ThinLinc 2.0.0, the user credentials only needs to be verified by the SSH daemon. This means that password based authentication is no longer a requirement. The login procedure is also faster. Note, however, that users must be allowed to execute "/usr/bin/thinlinc-login". (1283)
  • Authentication using SSH public keys is now supported. (2449)
  • Authentication using Smart Cards following the PKCS#15 standard is now supported. The client can be configured to automatically disconnect the session when the Smart Card is removed. (2439)
  • It is now possible to specify a "start program" in the client, which will be used to start the session, instead of using server side session profiles. This feature can be used to start an application specified by the client. (2044)
  • The SafeLinc functionality has been removed. (2402)
  • ThinLinc 2.0.0 features a new web browser integration which allows starting the native client from a web page or portal. If the native client is not installed, a signed Java Applet guides the user through the installation. The web browser integration is designed to be platform and browser independent. Single Sign-On is available when used with products such as PortWise 4.6. (2410)
  • The session name, which is displayed in the clients window title, can be dynamically updated. When using a "start command", the session name is set to this command by default. The session name can also be customized. (2528)

Client

  • The client is now translated to Brazilian Portuguese. (1437)
  • In some cases, the Windows client was sending a period instead of a comma, when using the numeric keypad. This has been corrected. (1919)
  • The new configuration parameter DISPLAY_MODE allows for specifying if the client should start in simple or advanced mode using a configuration file. (2145)
  • The client is no longer supported on Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows ME, since these platforms are no longer supported by Microsoft. (2311)
  • All client packages for thin terminals are preconfigured for local drive redirection. (2337)
  • The native client can now use additional configuration files, ending with .tlclient. These can be placed, for example, on the desktop or start meny and provides an easy way to switch between different client configuration profiles. The configuration files can also specify which server to connect to and which application to execute. (2618)
  • Compatibility has been improved with Local Drive Redirection using the Windows client and 32-bit applications running on recent Linux kernels. (2471)
  • The Solaris Client now correctly reports a terminal identification. This allows using the "nearest" printer queue from Solaris clients. (2497)
  • Sound system autodetection now works on eLux-based thin terminals. (2499)

Novell Integration

  • The tl-mount-ncphome.sh script has been removed, since using the NCP for the home directory itself doesn't work very good in practice. (2210)
  • The LDAP configuration file generated by the ThinLinc Novell Configurator now includes "bind_policy soft". This is to avoid long delays during boot with some Linux distributions, for example Suse. (2562)

Windows (R) Integration

  • The ThinLinc sound driver "tlsnd", which supports microphones and other input devices, now includes sample mixing support. This allows playback from multiple applications at a time. (2293)
  • When using application publishing via SeamlessRDP, the correct window icons are now set. Full 32-bit color support is available. (2404)
  • The performance of the local drive redirection when using the Windows client has been enhanced, especially when using large folders. (2440)

TLCOS

  • The new TLCOS is based on the Linux distribution Fedora 8, which includes many enhancements. Old kickstart files can still be used, but booting from floppy disks is no longer supported. (2270)
  • It is now possible to configure TLCOS to use languages other than English. All available client translations can be used with TLCOS as well. (2246)

Corrected Issues

ThinLinc has also been enhanced in many other ways. The complete list of corrected issues follows:

  96,  113,  240,  420,  471,  555,  612,  715,  903, 1092, 1259,
1283, 1437, 1534, 1559, 1617, 1628, 1640, 1781, 1797, 1808, 1809,
1821, 1842, 1867, 1919, 1939, 1968, 2007, 2014, 2044, 2057, 2127,
2132, 2136, 2141, 2145, 2153, 2201, 2210, 2230, 2246, 2270, 2285,
2286, 2293, 2301, 2311, 2337, 2357, 2358, 2384, 2393, 2399, 2402,
2404, 2410, 2411, 2415, 2420, 2431, 2435, 2438, 2439, 2440, 2446,
2447, 2448, 2449, 2450, 2452, 2454, 2455, 2457, 2461, 2463, 2471,
2472, 2476, 2477, 2487, 2495, 2497, 2498, 2499, 2500, 2501, 2503,
2512, 2513, 2515, 2518, 2528, 2529, 2539, 2547, 2548, 2549, 2562,
2572, 2574, 2578, 2595, 2600, 2602, 2603, 2604, 2607, 2617, 2618,
2621, 2624, 2625, 2628, 2632, 2645, 2647, 2666, 2673
ThinLinc (R) is a registered trademark of Cendio AB
Linux (R) is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.
Solaris (R) is a registered trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Red Hat (R) is a registered trademark of Red Hat, Inc.
SUSE (R) is a registered trademarks of Novell, Inc.
Ubuntu (R) is a registered trademark of Canonical Ltd.
Windows (R) is a registered trademark of Microsoft, Inc.
eLux (R) is a registered trademark of UniCon Software GmbH in Germany.

Frequently Asked Questions

Licensing/ Pricing ThinLinc Industry Applications Authentications Desktops Distributions

How can we help you?

Please tell us what you are looking for.