Adding Additional Hardware Support to a Thin Client (Windows Embedded CE 6.0)
1/5/2010
You can improve the functionality of your Windows Embedded CE powered thin client design by adding support for additional hardware features. Adding additional hardware features requires that you obtain the physical hardware and install or attach it to the hardware board, add the appropriate drivers to the OS design, and enable the appropriate redirectors.
Considerations for Additional Hardware Support
The following hardware can be redirected to be used within the Terminal Services session.
- Smart Card reader: With a Smart Card reader attached to a thin client, a user can log on to a remote server by using a Smart Card. The server authenticates the user by using credentials on a Smart Card plugged into the Smart Card reader.
To enable use of a Smart Card reader, you must include both the USB CCID Smart Card driver and a custom Cryptographic Service Provider (CSP) in your OS design. If you are using the USB CCID Smart Card driver, your Smart Card reader must also be compliant with the USB CCID specification. Otherwise, you must include a custom Smart Card driver that is compliant with the Smart Card reader you would like to use with your thin client. To obtain a custom CSP to add to the OS design, contact your third-party Smart Card reader provider. For more information about the driver, see USB CCID Smart Card Reader Class Driver. For more information about CSPs, see this Microsoft Web Site. - Smart Card: A Smart Card that can be distributed to a thin client user, who can inserted it into the Smart Card reader in order to log on to a remote server.
- Audio card and audio output hardware: With an audio card and audio output hardware, a user can hear audio playback locally at the thin client. To enable this, an audio card must be installed on the thin client hardware. Audio output hardware can be built into in the thin client hardware, or speakers that are compatible with the audio card can be distributed to users during deployment. For more information, see Audio Drivers.
- Printer: With a printer attached to the thin client, a user can use printer redirection to print a file to that printer during a Terminal Services session. To do this, the printer driver must be installed on the server.
- Ports: With local ports, a user can use local port redirection to access devices attached to the ports during a Terminal Services session. You can add more ports by purchasing the appropriate hardware connectors and installing them on the hardware board. Be aware that the ports that you must have for production devices may be different from the ports that you must have for standard development boards. For more information, see Hardware-Assisted Debugging Considerations for a Thin Client.
See Also
Concepts
Configuring the Redirectors in Thin Client