[KLUG Members] Novell Multiplier?

[Adam Tauno Williams]

> > So it's basically physical access to the same PC for up to ten users. A
> > different kind of thin client, but on a short tether. 
> > $99 per seat seems a little pricey to me.

I've actually seen a doinga-flopper like this for M$-Windows which let
two people use the computer at the same time.  Can you even imagine?
[ how slow and unstable that would be ]

> I've half way tried doing that before with dual monitors.  It was
> feasible years ago by just being the absolute expert at configuring
> XF86Config.  I gave up though when thinking of how to get the cables to
> get the vga between two next door cubicles.  Most monitors have
> relatively short cables, 6 feet or so at most.

You can get extension tables,  but running multiple X servers on one box
is what doesn't appeal to me,  that would eat up resources pretty fast
let alone having multiple video cards on the same PCI bus seems like it
would be steaming towards saturation (especially if your running at a
nice high resolution).  Two maybe, but three, four,... or ten?

> Pricey yes when comparing to taking landfill and turning it into an ltsp
> workstaion.  But cost effective if it costs $99 to add a 2nd keyboard
> monitor and mouse to a somewhat beefy desktop host.  You'll spend more
> than that on a monitor.

Yep.  But, unless you're doing video, I wonder if LTSP wouldn't actually
be faster after the third workstation since your off-loading the X
server to the client.  LTSP over giga-bit ethernet is pretty-darn fast.

> What gets me is 10.  How are you going to get 10 vga cables connected to
> one computer strung to even very near monitors.

How are you going to get more that three video cards in one box?
Especially since most desktops have a lone PCI bus.

You can get VGA cables that are 50' feet long and they work just fine.
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: This is a digitally signed message part
Url : http://www.kalamazoolinux.org/pipermail/members/attachments/20050326/a72b8f7a/attachment.bin