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Re: Multi-Head, Multi-User Killer GNU/Linux App Languishes
by Ed Avis on Saturday October 11, 2008 @ 03:45 PM
He is not missing the point at all. If you have remote X displays over the network and each individual PC works as an X terminal, then you need to buy twelve PCs (plus the server) to support twelve users.

If you plug four monitors and four keyboards into each PC, you only need to buy three PCs to support the same number of users. You still have to buy the keyboards, mice and monitors, plus some extra graphics cards, but you can easily cut your hardware costs by 50%.

(Modern hardware is easily fast enough to support four users at the same time unless they are editing videos or playing 3D games.)

Even if you do want to have remote X displays over the network, it still makes sense to have multiheaded machines acting as the terminals.
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    Re: Multi-Head, Multi-User Killer GNU/Linux App Languishes
    by anonymous on Sunday October 12, 2008 @ 02:13 AM
    There are always options for getting inexpensive remote X displays. It doesn't require that you buy lots of PCs. Single board computers that run a minimalistic linux distro would suffice quite well and would still be inexpensive. Thin clients, such as the Compaq T1510, for example, cost between $150 and $200. For twelve people that would bring the additional cost to only $2400 and would eliminate all of the technical problems with trying to setup a multiheaded display. Besides, three additional multiheaded PCs, depending on their configuration, could easily eat up $2400. So, yes, he is missing the point. Until the FOSS drivers for Nvidia and ATI are on par with the proprietary drivers, or ATI/Nvidia start paying more attention to multihead PCs, which is doubtful will ever happen, setting up multiheaded PCs will always be a black art.
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