On Mon, Jul 25, 2016 at 8:53 AM, Harsha Godavari <[email protected]> wrote: > > I am looking for information regarding the use of older hardware from i486 > and up. Ofcourse I am only thinking of end users who consider a computer as > just another tool to get done whatever they are doing. > > Considering that many distros are beginning to require 64-bit CPUs running at > Ghz speeds, needing Gigabytes of RAM and HD space, I was wondering if the old > hardware is really E-waste or can still be used for some Email/Web surfing , > nothing fancy . I would appreciate any info / sources you can provide.
The problem with email and web surfing -- the content has become *bloatware* People send MBs as attachments and links to video material and they require fairly high speed 'net access and cpu/ram on the client side. Today, this is the *expectation* of the average Joe/Jane user. In my experience, most video content is still Flash and it tends to consume CPU/RAM (htop is great as a monitor). Virtualized desktop may be the nice middle ground. You use these legacy hardware as "thin" clients to connect to a LTSP server and maximize the usage of old hardware. On the flip side, they need legacy power supplies running in the range of 250W per seat - definitely not green. My 2 cents. -- Arun Khan -- http://mm.ilug-bom.org.in/mailman/listinfo/linuxers
