Diskless node vs. thin client (was Re: [school-discuss] linux distributions for low resource computers)

[Daniel Howard <dhhoward@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

That's a great point about power Jim.  As I said, our 5th grade classes 
with 1:1 are regularly popping circuit breakers, and the teachers hate 
it that I won't let them use incandescent lamps, refrigerators, or 
microwaves in those rooms; that's one reason why they want to drop back 
to 2:1, space is the other, plus they finally decided that 2:1 met their 
needs quite adequately.

I still see thin clients continuing to drop in price pretty rapidly: The 
Ncomputing X300 works out at about $70 per station (w/o the cost of 
peripherals).  And I'm with Jim in that the multimedia aspect will solve 
itself ultimately, and can be solved now with a lower client to server 
ratio.

The thing is, for a $250 diskless node or chubby client, plus $150 at 
least for the LCD monitor, you're not far from the price of an ultra 
mobile PC.  That solves power, space, and multimedia issues, plus adds 
mobility.  If I was going to spend that much, I'd look seriously at UMPCs.

Daniel

James P. Kinney III wrote:
> I'm adding another piece to this puzzle:
>
> power and cooling are an issue that can make or break this equipment.


--
Daniel Howard
President and CEO
Georgia Open Source Education Foundation