An NC, connected to your local Network, most likely by UTP, thus by a cross-cable or HUB connecting to an X Server. Herafter called the Linux Box. The NC can be used as an X-terminal, and in this way can be used to replace an Windows Terminal server or simular application.
The NCD-ThinSTAR 200 is in way related to the IBM Network Station model 8361-100. Both machines share a lot of components such as some S3 vga components, IO , network and and normal 72pins (parity ??) sims. The motherboard is also from the same manufacturer.
The NCD worked quit fine on my network at home, but we had some trouble to get it running again on an other location. After a while we found out that the problem where the monitors. The NC does not seem to support all older monitors, even at low resolutions and refresh rates.
The Linux box does not require any special tricks: any X-server with xdm, gdm or something similar will do. We will use xdm.
Any machine running XDM with enough memory, processor power will do. You don't need to have X configured on the machine itselve, it can perfectly be a headless server. Basic X Windows install will provide you with the necessary deamons.