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A Different Take On PC Manus' 'Recycling' Schemes
Timex writes "Linux Devices is reporting that the COO of Linux startup Symbio Technologies, Roger Del Russo, claims that the recycling programs of Dell and HP are nothing more than a means of getting older systems out of use, to be replaced by newer systems. Mr Del Russo then makes the case for putting the older systems to good use as thin clients, using the Linux Terminal Server Project."
We use the LTSP at school, it makes working on the older computers (such as the ones in the library) not so unbearable. On the same note, must of the computers in my school are dual-boot w2k/red hat.
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That sits on a curb for longer than an hour.
True, in the city they get tossed into dumpsters, but not before the IT people get first shot at them. I still have computers from before 1990. I'm sure some of the rest of us do too.
Every few weeks one of my employees is talking about their latest dumpster dive acquisition - a dual processor p2 box was a recent acquisition by one of them.
This guy might just have a point.
HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
Gateway came out with a trade in program and if I remember correctly they didn't hide the fact they werer trying to get old systems out of use.
http://Lenny.com
Recently, I set up a small Debian-based computer lab using LTSP at the school I attend. Currently, it only has the server and 5 thin clients, but it is astounding what can be done with this hardware:
Server: 800 MHz Pentium III, 1 GB SDRAM, dual 20 GB hard drives.
Thin Clients (all diskless and netbooting thanks to LTSP): 233 MHz Cyrix III with 64 MB RAM, 233 MHz Pentium II with 48 MB RAM, 333 MHz Celeron with 32 MB RAM, 300 MHz Pentium II with 64 MB RAM, 150 MHz Pentium MMX with 32 MB RAM (IIRC).
This setup can have 6 people (one on the server plus the thin clients) running Gaim + Mozilla + OpenOffice with very little slowdown. Rarely is it noticeable. And it is very easy to manage; since there is only one computer with Debian and all the data and whatnot on it, only one box has to be updated, had new users added, etc.
Total cost so far: $0, it is all just hardware out of my friend's basements and mine. The fact that no money has to be spent to get something like this to work (and work well) really shows that a new, shiny 2.4 GHz Pentium 4 is not needed just to check email and browse the web. The science department at this same school actually just recieved 24 new 3.2 GHz Dells, and the most that is ever done on them are Excel spreadsheets!
Imagine the money that can be saved by using old but completely useful computers instead of upgrading every couple of years when it is unneeded... (and spending more money on licenses for new versions of Office and Windows and etc.)
It most certainly does NOT beg the question. It raises a good question.
I've known at least 10 people who have started businesses around the idea of giving old PCs a new life. One of them, Roger Gross, started Icentrix ltd. (now defunct), that used to make "MarioNet" appliances (essentially old PC serving as X servers and web browsers, talking to a centralized box).
Most of these guys' companies either don't fare too well, or are kaput, because the idea is, well, obvious...
At ITShare SA take donated hardware, install Linux, and donate to low income groups and individuals....We have sister organisations all over Australia tooo, doing the same. We would LOVE to get donations from Dell & HP of all these stockpiled computers - we are always desperate for hardware. No licencing issues! Ongoing supports for recipients! Win Win!!!
Nothing - well thats something.
- The client broadcasts for IP and other info using PXE or Etherboot.
- The client downloads the net bootable Linux kernel.
- The kernel boots and mounts a read-only root FS over NFS.
- The client self-configures and starts XFree86 v. 4.3
- XFree86 connects to a second computer and the entire session is exported to the thin client.
There is no apparent difference to the user. They don't even understand that they are working on the server at this point. With a Gig LAN card on the server and 100Mb on the clients, the session lag is unnoticable.BTW, this is a true thin client, unlike Winterms or the Linux equivalent. Exploit in the kernel? Just drop a new one on the server and update the name in DHCP (or make a symlink), and, presto, all the hundreds of clients have been upgraded with no downtime the next time the are cycled. There is no need to burn flash on hundreds of clients. Any application holes can be filled in the time it takes to patch the server, with no reboots required anywhere, and no tech to be onsite at all.
In short, though you seem to think so, nothing in the user session is running locally and the user is not limited by any old hardware. The clients can be used for another fifteen years with no penalty is they don't fail. Upgrade the software, upgrade the server hardware (or cluster), and you've got faster, better user sessions for free.
Check out for more info.
Put identity in the browser.
I think many people think that many older machines can't run newer Windows versions.
Actually, you can still run Windows 2000 Professional, given that the minimum requirement to run W2K Pro is a Pentium 133 MHz CPU. Given that there are a lot of machines out there with the ATX form factor that use the Intel 440LX and 440BX chipsets with at least a Pentium II 233 MHz CPU, you can set up for them to run W2K Pro with at least 256 MB of RAM installed (most of the 440LX/440BX chipset mobos can support three 168-in DIMM's for at least 384 MB of RAM) and a 16 to 20 GB hard drive.
I myself run W2K Pro on an Abit AB-BM6 440BX chipset motherboard with a Celeron "A" 500 MHz CPU; W2K Pro runs pretty decently fast, notably bacause I have 384 MB of system RAM installed.
In my humble opinion, if your computing needs are primarily business apps and accessing the Internet, you really don't need the fastest machine out there. It's only when you have to play the latest games or run programs to edit digital still pictures or videos downloaded from a MiniDV/MicroDV digital camcorder that you really do need a machine with a faster CPU.
The computer of my boss (the head of a small company that isn't afraid to spend money on computers) is a 600MHz Pentium III that came with NT4. It now dual boots into linux and has more memory (cheap), a good video card (v. cheap), more disk space - and now in most cases it appears to give an instant reponse to what is asked for it. About the only things that make the machine show its age is Open Office - which is even slower to start than win4lin plus a fairly old MSOffice, but once it has started going it works well. It's not about being a cheapskate, the machine does what it needs to do, and I put four new dual 2.8GHz Xeon servers in that office yesterday, which are doing some of the real work while the desktop machine is working as an Xterm displaying what thirteen other machines can do to some data over a weekend.
Not enough years back the only hardware I had to use was a pentium 90 with a pitiful amount of memory and a crap video card, but it was surpisingly effective with linux, Xfree86 and a lean enlightenment theme on it, so long as I ran the actual applications (from netscape up) on an SGI machine in the next building. The major failing of that machine was a lack of OpenGL support - a new video card would have fixed that easily and the machine could be used even today, so long as you only have a budget of just above zero. If there's something nice on the network, and things are set up properly, you can get away with all kinds of old hardware.
To sum up, even if you are not worried about spending the cash, you don't always need an incredible 3D games machine on your desk at work - and your machine that is getting a few years old may not slow you down at all.
there is also a charity in oregon called Freegeek. its a non profit organization that recycles and reuses old pc's. and this is how they do it
1. users donate old computers to the org
2. then they sort the components and sort out the ones that are usefull and box them
3. the old stuff goes to get recycled, the silicon, chips, metal, ect can all be recycled for a slight profit. the monitors go to hazardous waste facility.
4. the usefull componets go to building, where they train people how to build the pc's and how to install linux via the network.
5. nicer stuff goes to the second hand store where its sold for a light profit (my machine is an 800mhz machine i bought there for 50$)
6. then the people recieving the computers go to a class teaching them how to use thier new computers which are typically P2 400 machines
this is all done by a non-profit that provides computers to low income people. any person can get a free computer in exchange for building 6 comptuers or donating 24 hours vollenteer service, and they make enough profit there to hire staff and interns(usually 18-20 yr old kid-geeks).and also have classes about things like PHP and the like.
so thats why at freegeek the motto is "helping the needy get nerdy"