Hardware

Drivers: all of Debian's

OpenThinRDP is light because it runs no desktop, not because drivers were left out. The downloadable ISO carries
the complete Debian 13 kernel (Linux 6.12) with every driver module, and every firmware package Debian has
(firmware-linux-nonfree, firmware-realtek, firmware-iwlwifi, firmware-atheros, firmware-brcm80211,
firmware-mediatek, firmware-amd-graphics, firmware-intel-graphics, firmware-sof-signed and the others: the
FIRMWARE=all build of building.md). A network card, Wi-Fi adapter or graphics chip that works with
Debian 13, or with the Ubuntu and Linux Mint releases of the same period, works the same here. Only an image you
build yourself with FIRMWARE=thinclient keeps just the usual thin client firmware, to save about 600 MB.

The quickest way to know: start the ISO live from a USB stick. Nothing is written to the disk, and the
diagnostics (ℹ on the sign-in screen) show the network card, the address and whether the brokers answer.

Requirements

Tested

Should work: models that meet the requirements

These are common used thin clients with a 64-bit CPU, 2 GB of RAM or more and 8 GB of storage or more. We have not
tested them: if you try one, a line in the discussions
(model, what works and what does not) moves it to the table above.

Some of them ship with less storage than 8 GB in their smallest version: run them live from a USB stick or put in a
bigger module.

Not supported

• ARM (Raspberry Pi and ARM thin clients): in preparation, the Raspberry Pi 4 first.
• 32-bit only CPUs (older Atom and VIA models): Debian 13 no longer runs on them.

Firmware settings (Dell)

• Wake-on-LAN: enable "Wake on LAN" and disable "Deep Sleep Control". With deep sleep in S4/S5 the
  network card is off and the magic packet never arrives. The same setting blocks the RTC alarm used by
  POWER_ON_TIME.
• USB boot must be enabled to install from a stick (Integrated Devices).
• On Linux the settings can be changed without entering the setup screen, through dell-wmi-sysman
  (/sys/class/firmware-attributes/dell-wmi-sysman/), with the BIOS admin password if one is set.

Monitors

• A monitor switched on after the thin client (or a slow HDMI/DisplayPort link) leaves X without an output:
  the kiosk checks every 2 s and enables it.
• Monitors with a built-in USB hub may expose a "Hub Controller" device: it is kept local.
• Touch monitors stay local and their touches go to Windows as real touch input (+multitouch).

USB devices seen in the field

• Webcams with microphone (UVC + audio): camera through the RDP camera channel, microphone through the RDP audio
  channel (tested with an eMeet Nova and an HD Web Camera 05a3:9331 against Windows 11 and Zoom).
• Signature keys with smart card reader + storage: the reader goes through the smart card channel, the
  storage as a whole device.
• Composite devices that restart in another mode once they see a PC (e.g. tachograph download keys): passed
  with /usb:auto, so they are passed again after re-enumeration. Devices plugged in during the session are
  passed only with a FreeRDP that has the filter: option of the USB channel (merged upstream after 3.32.1);
  with older versions plug them in before signing in, or list them in USB_REDIRECT.
• USB network adapters are never passed (the device would lose its own network).