On Sun, Apr 02, 2006 at 11:41:57AM -0300, Timothy Legge wrote: > Arno Teigseth wrote: > > >I think I will try a setup. The only thing that strikes me as > >"difficult" would be the booting, as many of the homes have a > >router/firewall box with integrated DHCP server (=our enemy). But people > >would use PII's with a hard drive that could get some boot things > >written to it. Or some smart thin clients... > > Etherboot includes support for downloading a kernel via http and I > believe has dns support. If required you could hard code the > ip/hostname in Etherboot so it should not be hugely difficult...
This dream of a home Cable modem/DSL based LTSP client has popped up on this list on and off since it's inception. A quick search through the archives will verify this. Several problems with it exist: 1) First of all, assuming you're going to provide storage space + some kind of local devices access, how much space are you going to give them? The "$400 PC" probably comes with an 80 or 120 gig drive. How much space/user are you realistically going to be able to offer them? 2) Neither "cheap" Cable or DSL services offer any kind of guarenteed bandwidth provisions. Grandma isn't going to be too pleased with the service when the network slows down to 21.2 Kilobytes/sec because every 15 year old kid on the block's P2P'ing the latest 50 cent album. 3) Most Cable/DSL services have a monthly Gigabyte transfer limit before you start getting charged extra. If every byte of screen info's gonna rack up your charges, it's not going to take too many sessions of looking at the gradkids latest 1600x1200 pictures before Grandma's monthly charges get pretty high. Things to think about before you go out and get the small business loan. :) Scott -- Scott L. Balneaves | "Looking beyond the embers of bridges glowing behind us Systems Department | To a glimpse of how green it was on the other side..." Legal Aid Manitoba | -- Pink Floyd "High Hopes"
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