A Sustainable Remote Access Architecture for Digital Inclusion through the Reuse of Discredited TV-BOX Devices

Educational institutions with limited budgets often struggle to maintain modern computer laboratories, leading to a cycle of hardware obsolescence and electronic waste. This study explores a circular economy approach to this problem by repurposing confiscated TV Box devices—originally intended for destruction by customs authorities—into functional workstations. The authors implemented a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) where a refurbished Linux server handles all computational processing, while the repurposed TV Boxes act as lightweight 'thin clients' that merely display the remote session and handle user input.

The architecture utilizes a Lenovo ThinkServer TD350 running Ubuntu, connected to TV Box terminals (model MXQ Pro 4K) that have been reflashed with the Armbian Linux distribution. By using the XRDP protocol, the system centralizes the workload, allowing the low-power TV Boxes to provide a responsive desktop experience for standard educational tasks. The researchers found that this setup maintains low latency (13–25ms) even with multiple simultaneous users, provided the tasks remain focused on productivity rather than high-end multimedia.

This work demonstrates that environmental liabilities, such as seized electronic goods, can be transformed into valuable educational assets. By extending the lifecycle of hardware that would otherwise contribute to e-waste, institutions can reduce their reliance on expensive, proprietary hardware. The study provides a replicable model for other schools and organizations to build sustainable, low-cost computing environments, effectively bridging the digital divide while promoting Green IT practices.