The direction I am heading as of today is:
- Boot ROMs for the systems so we do not need hard drives or floppy and there is less
to go wrong (deliberately or accidently)
- Booting Linux and going directly into X Server from the server based boot image
- All applications reside and execute on a Linux server
- Linux dials out to the Internet so a room full of roll my own X terminal systems
could:
- Browse the web
- Type documents
- spreadsheets
- Whatever other free X apps are out there
Or I still like the DOS based web browser idea. It comes down to sound IT judgement
and centralizing the administration makes a lot of sense (X terminals) but dialing via
PPP from a remote site will need to be addressed. Again I will detail what I found and
why so others will have a formula to work from and/or convince someone that Windows is
not the only thing out there (there is Linux, DOS, BeOS, etc).
Hal.
At 11:45 AM 8/27/99 +0700, you wrote:
>(Was: Re: X Window Server for DOS)
>On Thu, 26 Aug 1999 18:17:40 -0600, pippi5 wrote:
>
>> Hal, that's my goal too. I'm still learning all the many and
>> varied details for doing this, and slowly collecting at far
>> too much expense, a collection of computers and parts.
>> Unfortunately, the retail prices in the local second hand market
>> are yet somewhat prohibitive and there isn't a lot of equipment
>> in that market. Most of the old computers around this city appear
>> to be kept in storage "just in case" and so are being wasted on
>> dust. I hope for a goodly glut next spring.
>
>Almost the same situation here in Indonesia, older PC and their
>parts are hard to find; and the retail prices for second hand market
>are still quite high compared to our (majority) average income rate.
>Quite ironic IMHO, as labor costs are extremely low, and we're not
>so strict about environment-hazardous materials. Newer PCs and the
>internet are still viewed as rich people's goodies. ISPs usually
>advocated it services as only useable with newer PC's, and even
>worst -- we still have to paid our online time by minutes (we only
>have one telco 'till the year 2010). Please correct me if I'm
>wrong! ;-)
>
>Back to the subject, this "thin client" approach might provide a
>way out from this situation. By taking advantage of most people's
>browsing habit (technically called "overbooking"): requesting pages
>- read them (takes time) - requesting another pages - writing mail
>(takes lots more time) - and so on. While on the same time the
>online time flies so fast, and should be paid for by minutes, used
>or not used.
>
>Thus, how about setting up an low cost community cybercafe, which
>consisting of a single powerful X-Window server, *sharing* (also)
>a single internet account to a bunch of SurvPCs via LAN? Another
>advantage, the server could also be loaded with newer offline apps,
>which normally only usable on more powerful PC's than the actual
>thin clients. Perhaps anyone here have real-world experience on
>this setup?
>
>You see, the only expensive component here is the server hardware.
>The rest including older NICs (LAN cards) are SurvPC equipments,
>which could be gathered for almost free from surplus outlets,
>charity orgs, or donations. But I'm affraid this might only true
>for the US and some part of Europe, which I keep heard have a huge
>overstock of old 'puter stuff. Remember our "full-functional-
>SurvPC-from-a-trashcan" story posted here some time ago? ;)
>
>Overall, just an idea... ("my 2 cents" as you say? ;). The more
>expensive cybercafe setup (using all P class machines, Win NT
>server-client, star LAN with Hub, aircon cozy room, etc.) even
>made a bunch of thriving small-medium sized businesess here <g>.
>But that's another story...
>
>PS- Please do reply to the list, a lot more people could benefit
> more this way (we forming a public knowledgebase here) -- not
> only the original poster.
>
>--Eko
>
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