multiseat

[Jon Smirl]

On 7/30/05, Ian Romanick <idr at us.ibm.com> wrote:
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> Jon Smirl wrote:
> > On 7/30/05, Daniel Stone <daniel at fooishbar.org> wrote:
> >
> >>Right.  Unfortunately, this is particularly the case with old drivers
> >>for old cards that no-one cares about anymore, which also happens to be
> >>the cheapest way to fly.  And often, the motivator for multiseat setups
> >>is to reduce cost.  Finding new cards x4 (i.e. one AGP and three PCI) is
> >>surprisingly non-trivial.  I set out with a mandate to get three PCI
> >>GeForces (any generation), and wandered around Melbourne's swap meets,
> >>which have the cheapest kit, and often second-hand.  $230 later, I had
> >>my three cards.
> >
> > You can buy brand new PCI Radeon 7000 with dual heads for $27.
> > http://store.yahoo.com/str8buy/chaingefmx4x.html
> > It is available from lots of other vendors at around $30.
> >
> > Brand new 9250 for $44
> > http://www.mtssales.com/ProductInfo.aspx?id=384438
> 
> You do have a valid point here.  However, you are missing another valid
> point.  There are organizations like FreeGeek (http://www.freegeek.org/)
> and Geeks Without Borders (http://www.gwob.org/) that can afford exactly
> $0.  They have to rely exclusively on donations and "throw away" hardware.
> 
> The more hardware we can support, the broader their options are.
> Keeping functioning hardware out of landfills and in people's systems is
> a Good Thing.
> 
> A big part of what keeps me interested in open drivers is keeping this
> class of hardware viable (for some definition of "viable") for these
> types of organizations.

At some point you need to start looking at the trade off of time/
effort/ shipping/ scrounging of old hardware. You can buy a brand new
Dell complete with 2.4Ghz Celeron, 17in monitor, 80gb, 256MB,
audio/speakers, Windows, net, mouse, CDROM, keyboard, color printer
and 1 year service/support delivered on your door step for $265USD.
The Dell is hassle free. The parted together system has a lot of
hassles. Hassle free is a very important consideration in these
environments.

If Mbeki would get rid of his 600M ZAR plane you could buy 344,500 of
these systems. Dell would probably even give you a discount big
discount for educational use.

I have given away dozens of old computers. About half the time I
wonder if I did the recepient a favor given how much trouble they have
keeping it running.

yes I know the kids don't have the $265, etc, etc, etc...

-- 
Jon Smirl
jonsmirl at gmail.com