Ndiyo is a not-for-profit, Cambridge-based project which was set up to foster an approach to networked computing that is:
simple
affordable
open
less environmentally-hostile
less dependent on intensive technical support
...than conventional PC-based networking technology.
As outlined in the project introduction, Ndiyo's mission is to promote the concept of ultra-thin-client computing and open source software as a more affordable and sustainable way of providing computer workstations. Part of our work involves developing real systems which fulfil these goals - Ndiyo systems. When all the components of our systems are available commercially, we may sell and support Ndiyo systems directly, but we will also tell people where they can obtain the components and how to set one up. Ultimately we are trying to demonstrate that there is a different way of doing computing to the current "one user, one PC" paradigm. We are not trying to control this technology: the more people around the world who are making a living developing, selling and supporting systems such as these, the happier we will be!
The specific system we have developed consists of two or more "nivo" ultra-thin clients connected to a server PC running Open Source software. Together, these provide an extremely low cost, but highly capable, system.
In the remainder of this document, we explain the basic idea of thin-client networking, then look at our novel contributions in the form of ultra-thin-clients and the server software.
