Plugable Thin Client: The $50 Computer
kickstarter.com
Plugable Thin Client: The $50 Computer
1–10 of 16 posts
Re: Plugable Thin Client: The $50 Computer
#2Ok, so they're making something that already exists. I know the HP version costs about $80.
What I want to know is how are they planning on bringing their costs down to be able to provide something cheaper than a larger company that already has the ability to produce whatever they want.
Re: Plugable Thin Client: The $50 Computer
#3This looks great. I suppose this will help a lot of class rooms in poorer countries.
Re: Plugable Thin Client: The $50 Computer
#4Ok, so they're making something that already exists. I know the HP version costs about $80. What I want to know is how are they planning on bringing their costs down to be able to provide something cheaper than a larger company that already has the ability to produce whatever they want.
It seems it's not in fact a thin client - as far as I can tell, it's a USB hub and USB graphics card which then gets hooked up to its own X session on the host.
It's much more limited than the HP devise you're referring to, so I would think it needs to be a lot cheaper to make sense.
Re: Plugable Thin Client: The $50 Computer
#5At first I was wondering about the benefits of using such a system vs. something like deploying the raspberry pi en masse (which is a full system for under $50), but after some thought it comes down to the fact that the average utilization of any computer most of the time is very low, but we really notice the CPU power when we do something intensive (although not very often). Each user on this system could potentially feel the same power as a full desktop, as the probability of multiple users requiring intensive computation at the same time is relatively low. Kind of like how web providers quote 10MB per customer, but their infrastructure only has to cater for a tiny fraction of the potential full utilization.
Re: Plugable Thin Client: The $50 Computer
#6I think was a great idea, ten or fifteen years ago. But not today because the era of growth for desktop computers is essentially over.
I have no idea what I would do with this today. I have a MacBook Pro, and my wife does, too. Nearly everyone I know has an iPhone, and an iPad.
Why would any of us use this? Each of us already has two or three computers of some kind that we carry everywhere, nearly all the time.
I'm not trying to be mean. I just don't see how a $50 computer that you have to plug into a keyboard, mouse, and monitor is something that anyone with mobile devices would want.
Re: Plugable Thin Client: The $50 Computer
#7I think was a great idea, ten or fifteen years ago. But not today because the era of growth for desktop computers is essentially over. I have no idea what I would do with this today. I have a MacBook Pro, and my wife does, too. Nearly everyone I know has an iPhone, and an iPad. Why would any of us use this? Each of us already has two or three computers of some kind that we carry everywhere, nearly all the time. I'm n…
I would think the average person isn't lucky enough have an inventory of multiple thousand dollars of high-end computing equipment. This kind of system would be perfect in developing countries, or as the project suggests, for education.
Re: Plugable Thin Client: The $50 Computer
#8I think was a great idea, ten or fifteen years ago. But not today because the era of growth for desktop computers is essentially over. I have no idea what I would do with this today. I have a MacBook Pro, and my wife does, too. Nearly everyone I know has an iPhone, and an iPad. Why would any of us use this? Each of us already has two or three computers of some kind that we carry everywhere, nearly all the time. I'm n…
A related HN post from a few weeks ago, a bit more technical:
http://hackerne.ws/item?id=3916647
As the blogger suggests, this type of tech would most likely be used in internet cafe environments, or classrooms. It might not work out so well at home but I can definitely see it being used in public environments.
This doesn't seem like it's that hard to implement though, I wonder if commercial operating systems decided to neglect this type of feature fearing that a few multiseat users is a few potential licenses lost?
Re: Plugable Thin Client: The $50 Computer
#9Whats the point of this kickstarter? Theres nothing new here. Citrix, Vmware etc have been doing this for years now and thin clients already exist by the hundreds. The $50 price point is towards the lower end but the client featured also cuts back on a bunch of features that competitors at $75-100 range have.
Re: Plugable Thin Client: The $50 Computer
#10Ok, so they're making something that already exists. I know the HP version costs about $80. What I want to know is how are they planning on bringing their costs down to be able to provide something cheaper than a larger company that already has the ability to produce whatever they want.
It seems it's not in fact a thin client - as far as I can tell, it's a USB hub and USB graphics card which then gets hooked up to its own X session on the host. It's much more limited than the HP devise you're referring to, so I would think it needs to be a lot cheaper to make sense.
This also means it has to be in pretty close proximity to the host machine. No connectivity over Ethernet or wifi...
Not to mention you have to have (or buy) the keyboard, monitor and mouse. Some people may have an extra keyboard or two kicking around, not sure how many people keep extra monitors handy for very long (though you can come by monitors cheap on craigslist).