Thin Clients

[Bill Campbell]

On Fri, Nov 16, 2007, Jay R. Ashworth wrote:
>On Fri, Nov 16, 2007 at 01:17:27AM -0500, Fairlight wrote:
>> Is it just me, or did Jay Ashworth say:
>> > But the last time I checked, no one has a thinterm for anything less
>> > than close to $500, which is enough higher than a real PC to force the
>> > cost-benefit analysis; terminals, used, are maybe, what, $100?  Less?
>> 
>> Cost-benefit would be vastly skewed in favour of a terminal if one had a
>> solid state based terminal for $500ea, and it will last 20yrs, while a real
>> PC's expected lifespan is only 3-5 years these days.  My record is 8yrs,
>> but a P166 is relatively cool.  The hard drives are also the biggest fault
>> point, IMHO, and good luck making one last even 10yrs.  I knew a Wren-VI
>> that did (with soft errors, then hard errors, used in a Sun 3/60), but they
>> don't build them like that anymore.  If you have something ROM based, that
>> worry goes away.  I know 18yr old terminals that are still functional,
>> however.
>> 
>> Minimise moving parts, FTW.
>
>Moving parts *and* operating systems.
>
>Small OBCs are getting a lot cheaper, though; we're *almost* at the
>point where I can do my own thinterm at $200 retail that will bolt to
>the back of a VESA LCD.

The biggest issues I see with dumb serial terminals are running
cables if they're not already present and/or support for
reasonable serial multi-port boards on current operating systems.

I have a stack of old Specialix hardware in my back room, but no
current hardware supports ISA boards today.

Bill
--
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