Greg Twyford wrote: > Tim Churches wrote: >> >> And plenty of RAM - ideally 4GB according to IBM's tests: >> http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37756 >> > > Tim, > > You've made me think. > > I've spent a lot of time this summer fixing overheating boxes for GPs > and their family members, because the processors put out over 100W of > heat, SLI and other high-end video cards have their own power supply > sockets, now we are told we need 3-4GB of RAM for Vista. Lots of people > are recommending PSUs around 550W to cope with more than basic desktop PCs. > > Haven't we all forgotten about the environmental impact, and what > proportion of these extra resources are actually helping us do work any > better? > > I recently installed Xubuntu on my Linuxbox. It has several OS on > removable HDDs. Xubuntu uses XFCE, a really cut-down GUI interface. Very > fast, does everything you need. I like KDE, but this is more than > enough, and runs well on lower-end hardware. It has Openoffice, Firefox, > Gimp, etc. > > I'm reminded of the V8 floating gin-palaces that passed for cars in 50s > and 60s USA. Anything bigger and hungrier must be better, and make you a > bigger man. > > We need to get over all this, it's a sign that our affluence has > corrupted us more than we like to think. The third world will catch up > using technology it can afford, and Linux, or derivatives, will be right > up there.
Couldn't agree more. The answer is for practices to run a single central server with a 500W power supply, which hosts multiple thin clients running on low-power VIA-based CPUs - which is exactly what Horst does. And if you need a laptop, install Xubuntu or some other Xfce-base Linux on an old one - I have Xubuntu on an old 500MHz Pentium 3 Compaq laptop, which uses very little power, and it runs a treat. The future is, of course, the OLPC, which eventually won't just be for kids and it runs Linux on a 3033mHz low-power processor, and which, if its batteries run down, can be powered for ten minutes at a time by pulling a little cord which spins a built-in dynamo for one minute. Amazing and exciting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Laptop_per_Child Tim C _______________________________________________ Gpcg_talk mailing list [email protected] http://ozdocit.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gpcg_talk
