Re: Real multi-user linux

From: Gerhard Mack <gmack@innerfire.net>
To: "Terje Fåberg" <terje_fb@yahoo.no>
Cc: John Bradford <john@grabjohn.com>, <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: Real multi-user linux
Date: Fri, 13 Jun 2003 11:19:51 -0400 (EDT)	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.44.0306131117280.5168-100000@innerfire.net> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20030613140111.34979.qmail@web12901.mail.yahoo.com>

On Fri, 13 Jun 2003, Terje Fåberg wrote:
> John Bradford <john@grabjohn.com> skrev:
>
> > This idea has come up before, have a look at:
> >  http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?.....
>
> Thank you for providing these references.  Especially
> the first thread discusses some thoughts I had, too.
>
> To summarize: People have thought about of one linux
> box directly supporting multiple (X-)consoles before.
> But this is not possible as of now, because X would
> have to be told to stop switching consoles and because
> the kernel cannot activate more than one console at
> one time. Additionately, multiple video cards may
> require mappings into the same memory area for certain
> functions. Some people have started to work on  a
> solution, but these projects were orphaned.
>
> My motivation is simply a private one.  I have a
> P3-866 with 1.5G RAM and a scsi raid here which serves
> its own console and an old P133 as X terminal.
> Although this machine is already some kind of
> outdated, it has plenty of power to serve two users
> with one KDE session each.
>
> I started to think about this, because the P133 died
> away due to a failing processor fan. Although
> replacing the whole machine with a similar one
> probably is cheaper than a good usb keyboard and
> mouse, it is also a question of comfort. No waiting
> for the terminal to boot up, no double administration,
> less power consumption, less space needed and so on.
>
> Although I have some C/C++ expirience, I have
> absolutely no clues about kernel and or X internals,
> so I guess I have to forget this for now.

You can gain most of those advantages by using the machine as a terminal
server.  http://neoware.com has solid state(fanless) clients.   So you
still get the lower admin costs and a nice quiet office.  Hopefully
someone else will reply with an even cheaper thin client.

	Gerhard

--
Gerhard Mack

gmack@innerfire.net

<>< As a computer I find your faith in technology amusing.