Application Support

ThinLinc supports audio forwarding of all well-behaved applications. PulseAudio, the Open Source sound server upon which ThinLinc's sound system is based, is capable of emulating both of Linux' sound interfaces, ALSA and OSS. The applications are provided with the same feature set as a local sound card, almost eliminating the issue of application compatibility.

Audio forwarding is also extended to any Windows Terminal Services servers connected as application servers.

Accurate Latency

Unlike most competing products, the sound system used in ThinLinc is capable of measuring end-to-end latency with very high accuracy. For the end user, this translates to good synchronization between what is being displayed on the screen and what is coming out of the speakers. Watching a movie where the audio doesn't line up with image would quickly become unbearable.

Microphone Support

ThinLinc not only supports playback of sound from the server to the clients, but also audio going from the client to the server. With the recent popularity of voip, support for microphones are now an essential feature.

Using our "ThinLinc sound driver", included in version 1.6.0 and later, it is also possible to extend the microphone support to the connected Windows Terminal Services application servers.

Unlike some of our competitors, the microphone support is included in the base product and there are no extra features that you must pay a premium to get access to.

Audio Quality

The sound system in ThinLinc has few limitations when it comes to audio quality. It supports all common sample formats, up to 32 channels and a sample rate only limited by your available bandwidth. The desired audio quality is selected per audio stream, allowing you to select freely and even have different settings in different applications.

There is no destructive compression applied to the audio data, guaranteeing perfect fidelity all the way from the application to the client machine.

Security

With the inclusion of multi-user systems and networks, security becomes a big issue. A microphone could potentially be turned into an eavesdropping device, even without your knowledge.

Fortunately, ThinLinc has an advanced security system in place. The sound transport is protected from other users through the use of a security cookie. This cookie is the equivalent of a one-time password and is very difficult to fake. On top of this, the audio data goes through the SSH tunnel, shielding the data with a very secure encryption.

Bandwidth Requirements

Uncompressed audio data can consume a lot of bandwidth and is usually only suitable for LAN environments. Some examples:

• CD quality (44.1 kHz, 16-bit, stereo) = 1.3 Mbps
• Telephone quality (8 kHz, 8-bit, mono) = 64 kbps
• DVD quality (48 kHz, 16-bit, 5.1) = 4.4 Mbps