Thin client

A thin client (as opposed to a thick client) is a client that does nothing expect show graphics and pass along user input. Another machine, typically a specialized server, runs the actual application and performs the heavy work including data storage.

Back in the 80's, thin clients were the future of computing. As computers got cheap in the 90's, thick clients came into vogue. Now, as people want more mobile computing, thin clients are coming back into popularity, in particular, thin clients where each application is hosted by a different server.

NeatX is a great way to get thin clients over networks without ideal latencies and bandwidths. The X Window System was designed for thin clients from the beginning.

SSH turns your computer into a thin client.