That's an excellent use of a free OS. I was in Tanzania at the beginning of the year on vacation. You can do a lot with 1GB and a lean UI. All the BSDs should do quite well in that configuration.
-Matt On Fri, Dec 26, 2014 at 4:05 AM, PeerCorps Trust Fund < [email protected]> wrote: > It certainly is, although the machines are actually running stock FreeBSD > 10.1. > > PC-BSD was an option in the beginning, but because these were older > computers it was easier to build a low-resource install enabling only basic > services such as NFS rather than trying to pare down a PC-BSD install to > suit the needs of the project (which is a basic KDE-based workstation). > > Most of those desktops had only one gigabyte of RAM ad PC-BSD uses a lot > of resources. We learned a lot in the process and will be implementing > modified libraries in the coming year using donated computer equipment. > > I think many underestimate the enormous value that such projects have in > these communities. Just having access to books and educational material is > tremendously beneficial from a development perspective. > > On 12/26/2014 01:12 PM, Carsten Mattner wrote: > > On Fri, Dec 26, 2014 at 12:43 AM, PeerCorps Trust Fund > > <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Indeed in Tanzania :) we have a couple of technology initiatives taking > place at the > >> moment and *BSD is at the center in many ways. The delivery of > educational > >> materials and books to resource-limited communities is an important aim > of > >> these initiatives. > >> > >> We actually used FreeBSD in our first effort, but want to experiment > with some > >> of the capabilities of DragonflyBSD and HAMMER in the next one. In our > >> estimation we can possibly stretch our hardware and funds a bit further > with > >> DragonflyBSD/HAMMER owing to its low resource requirements. > > > > Ah nice. Is it the same project we heard recently of with photos of a > library > > room running PCBSD machines with a video and document library? > > > > > >> On 12/25/2014 11:20 PM, Carsten Mattner wrote: > >>> On Thu, Dec 25, 2014 at 7:08 PM, PeerCorps Trust Fund > >>> <[email protected]> wrote: > >>>> I just wanted to take the opportunity update a previous post that I > made to the > >>>> list concerning a swap_pager concern. It isn't an issue at all but > the fault of my > >>>> own ignorance and hardware limits. > >>>> > >>>> The external drive in question was simply not pulling enough power > from the > >>>> USB port of the laptop. This was likely resulting in a stalled drive > when anything > >>>> substantial was being copied to it. > >>>> > >>>> This has since been solved by connecting the drive first to an > externally powered > >>>> USB hub. So, if there is anyone else out there having a similar > issue, trying this > >>>> seems to do the trick. Alternatively, just use a drive that is > powered externally. > >>>> > >>>> Everything works beautifully now and this low cost experiment for a > simple file > >>>> server will find a home in a school classroom next year. > >>> > >>> In Tanzania? > >>> > >>> FreeBSD had a writeup about a set of PCBSD machines installed in > Nigeria IIRC. > >>> > >>> A blog post or other writeup to link on dragonflybsd.org would surely > be nice. > >>> > >> > > -- > Michael L. Wilson > International Project Coordinator > PeerCorps Trust Fund - Tanzania > > >
