Just a short note on a news item about an adapted version of Edubuntu 7.04 being deployed to schools in Macedonia (F.Y.R.O.M.).
The interesting part is that these 20.000 PCs (7.000 already shipped) will be equipped with (X300) Thin Clients by NComputing, which allow 7-8 users on each machine at the same time.
I’ve posted it here because Daudi’s comment the other day over at Erik’s Realm reminded me of this “sharing perspective” – which I think will be one of the reasons why any real multi-user OS will eventually win the game. As for the Linux vs. Windows debate: I personally don’t care which system is used, as long as it’s secure enough (viruses = kill productivity), provides a good usability and won’t be affected by power cuts.
Related to this owner-user-question, I wonder how many average users every mobile phone has in a country like Kenya (given that a phone may only be used by one person at a time and that different profiles depend on the SIM in gsm phones).
i saw the implementation where these boxes were introduced in 1999 somewhere…memory a little fuzzy, they were indeed buggy but they worked well enought with less demanding uses like wordprocessing, spreadsheets and whatnot, internet was the best use for it. its premise was solid and i was impressed by the performance, the price though was and still is a little prohibitive,$200 or thereabouts plus cost of monitor, keyboard and mouse…..but still a brilliant thing.
Sasa you guy.
I have just installed Ncomputing at our office. We are using the higher ranger L200 rather than the X300. We have one computer currently powering 3 workstations but will expand it as we need. Each of the L200s costs KSH 15,000.00 inc VAT. We are using a normal Dell, 512mb, 3ghz, 120 HD that go for around KSH 40,000.00.
The advantage of this system is that there is no limit to how far the workstations are from the host computer. So long as they are networked it is fine as the L200 has an Ethernet port. So we have one switch with each L200 connected to a port on that switch. (The host computer plugs into the switch directly without having to go through a L200). I will show the set up next time uko town!
So far the only issue I have noticed is that the graphics on the other computers are not as good. Otherwise so far so good.
*big grin*
…sounds like a plug & play system to me!
How’s the power consumption? And which OS?
Power consumption does seem to have changed at all. It is plug and play largerly although you need to install some software on the host computer. I’m running WXP SP2.
For those who have not see this technology at work, it is great. It is what I can call revolutionary tech of Arfica. NComputing consumes less than 5 Watts per Terminal. What else does Africa need? Ask me any querries on NComputing on 0722681971.