> The total cost in hardware, OS/application setup man-hours, and electricity > is *higher* if you attempt the multi-seat route with one big powerful box vs > many small power efficient boxen.
~ Well, honestly, we may be looking at these issues from entirely different points of view, but I don't even see why is it that "routers" and "one big powerful box vs many small power efficient boxen" have to do with multiseat envs. ~ Multiseat boxes don't need extra routers but it is the promiscuity of using the same NIC that raises loud security issues and you don't need a powerful box, you can beef up a regular commercial box today with 16 GBs and no need for extra "small power efficient boxes" either all we need is make -larger- keyboard, mouse and monitor cables ~ I will earmark my response to you/debian-user because I do believe in multiseat as the next great paradigm ~ > 1. If/when this one machine breaks, all your seats (users) are down. In the > PC model, one machine breaks, only one user is down. ~ true, but as they say "you may put all your eggs in one basket -and guard that basket-" ;-) Technology has gotten reliable to the point in which this even if possible is not a common realistic issue. As we know, technically anything can break (well, mostly we break them) but we don't conduct our lives thinking that a meteorite will fall right on top of ourselves (pun intended) ~ > 2. Because the market has evolved to the "PC everywhere" model, PCs are dirt > cheap, approaching $100 USD for the box (remember you have to buy all those > monitors, keyboards, and mice for the multi-seat setup so the only > differential factor is the price of the CPU box). The hardware cost for > specialty cards, signal repeater boxes and cables for the multi-seat > configuration is actually higher than buying a bunch of cheap low end power > efficient PCs with standard cables. ~ As I said all we -basically- need are extra large cables to the peripherals we already use, no specialty cards or signal repeater boxes of any kind (unless you are thinking of a video cable larger than 100 ft). There are no physical problems with that at all and even though this is a commodity market right now for people using KVMs and stuff these cables aren't really that expensive to be produced, definitely less than $100. The video cable (with audio) I am using right now is a 25 ft long one I bought from ebay for $7.95: ~ http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=380181543385 ~ plugged into a KVM through extra F-M VGS convertors instead of using two monitors. It works einwandfrei!!! Even if the built-in video card of the mobo is dead ~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thgRfevMMXc ~ All I do is dumbing down video by booting Debian/knoppix with the cheatcode xmodule=vesa and I don't notice any problem whatsoever. Now tell me how much cheaper can it go ;-) and I still see it would get even cheaper if the market picks up interest. That "$100 USD for the box" has been/become more of a goal/slogan, while a multiseat env. is realistically feasible right now (as we see if a number of stars are aligned) for way less ~ > ... Citirx et al "dumb Windows terminal" model ... ~ It seems to me you are talking "business" here (and even thought I don't have a degree in Economics, bad one for that matter) ~ > ... the route you are suggesting increases overall costs in hardware and > man-time significantly over a PC at every seat ~ we have been mentalized to think that way and I can factually/technically prove it to you/debian-users/whomever, better yet you could check it out yourself ;-). People in the 50's, 60's were using cars with airplane engines. I do understand technical issues don't entirely determine business success (remember transmeta?) and hey people still use Windows ;-) Why? Because we techies don't get people love movies and because MS has very successfully sold the user illusion of using Windows as "having lunch with Bill Gates" which apparently is in a lot of people's todo list ... ;-) ~ > I can't count the number of studies I've read over the years that make the > argument that centralized computing is the better model. ~ A technical truth needs still to be implemented/proved right ;-) ~ > overall costs end up being much higher ~ silly me is still not convinced ~ > ... a fully functional new laptop for $300 USD ~ Where are they? ;-) carrying a minidrive in your pocket would be a lot easier, healthier, safer, ... and cheaper as well ~ > the cost of extra vid cards, cables, KBs, mice, a CRT/LCD screen and time > time and hassle of trying to make multi-seat work ~ The only extra cost here would be the special video cards for each seat but even they are commercial nowadays and making multi-seat work would be our job right? ~ Thank you lbrtchx -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
