Charity system?

[XavierMace]

Hey, another thought... what about a single multi-core machine powering several users at the same time? Might need 2-3 cheapo video cards powering 2-3 monitors each... but would one $1000 machine be better than 5 users with their own $200 dedicated machine?

1.) Maybe take one refurbished Dell Precision T3500, HP Z400, or Lenovo S20 LGA 1366 Workstation and either use a Nehalem 4C/8T or Westmere 4C/8T or 6C/12T Xeon processor and load up with RAM (12GB to 24GB depending on the number of users).

Ok, and then what? How are you planning on having multiple users using the same physical machine at the same time?

 

[Kaido]

Ok, and then what? How are you planning on having multiple users using the same physical machine at the same time?

It's actually not a bad thought...a lot of progress has been made in virtualization over the last few years. For example, nComputing has a pretty neat solution that can shoot HD video & 1080p resolution to multiple remote clients: (basically a more cost-effective Terminal Server)

https://www.ncomputing.com/products/vspaceserver

They make their own thin client software & hardware as well. You can slap the software client onto an old cheap XP box:

https://www.ncomputing.com/products/vspaceclient

Or just get one of their budget thin client boxes:

http://ncomputing.com/products/lseries/tech-specs

Or there's stuff like the Linux Terminal Server Project, NoMachine, and so on if you want to tinker a bit more with stuff. Lots of issue.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

OP, I've been putting together computers for schools in Eastern Europe, and shipping them via diplomatic channels.

This being said, the rig in your first post is serious overkill - I doubt even some AT-ers (which can rightly be called "computer aficionados") have so much computing power!

You must realize that the residents of shelters are very unlikely to need anything more elaborate than a simple browsing machine, with maybe some Office applications.

In other words, any dual-core Athlon, C2D or even dual-core Atom would do the trick. I doubt shelter residents would care about finesse details like "Oh, it's got a SSD, it boots in less than 15 seconds!"

Take a step back and reassess the needs of regular people on the real world. Like most other people have already said in this thread, you are about to donate an Acura when a Hyundai would be sufficient.

 

[JWade]

to give you an idea on how low costs could be, I picked up ten Dell 745 desktops, ten Dell 755 desktops and ten 19" monitors from a government auction for a total of $82. each had a c2d, 2gb ram and 160gb hard drive. I am combining them so that 10 systems have 320gb hard drive space and 4gb ram. check out govdeals.com to see if there are any government auctions in your area going on.

edit: all the systems work by the way, just combining them so that 10 of them will have 4gb ram instead of 2gb.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

^^^ Perfect example!

 

[Blue_Max]

^^^ Perfect example!

Agreed. There are some VERY good deals to be had on these off-lease systems which are more than sufficient and you're doing your part to keep them out of the dumps.

Best of all, if you're serving more than one location (or even just more than one machine) you want them all exactly the same so you can mirror-image a single hard drive to them all - quick & easy.

 

[cbn]

You could probably save some money going with something like Raspberry WebKiosk, a Pi setup, and a monitor/keyboard/mouse/speakers, but you're still going to be paying at least $150 to $200 per machine, and for $150 more you can get a Chromebase that won't give you any major headaches down the road.

Kaido, I'm assuming this is the software you are referring to:

http://www.binaryemotions.com/web-kiosks/raspberry-webkiosk/

...I don't have Raspberry Pi, but I ended up trying the following x86 kiosk software from the same web site:

http://www.binaryemotions.com/web-kiosks/webkiosk-os/

So far I like it. (Sometimes simple really is better, though I wonder how updates are done?)

P.S. I'll probably end up trying the donor's version too which adds Libre Office, shown below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDou3JBho_w

 

[Kaido]

Kaido, I'm assuming this is the software you are referring to:

http://www.binaryemotions.com/web-kiosks/raspberry-webkiosk/

...I don't have Raspberry Pi, but I ended up trying the following x86 kiosk software from the same web site:

http://www.binaryemotions.com/web-kiosks/webkiosk-os/

So far I like it. (Sometimes simple really is better, though I wonder how updates are done?)

P.S. I'll probably end up trying the donor's version too which adds Libre Office, shown below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDou3JBho_w

Yeah, there are a lot of options. Like you mentioned, updates are something to think about. The web is constantly upgrading, and your browser needs to be upgraded with it for security & compatibility issues. There are also compatibility issues with alternative software such as Libre Office, like if someone makes a resume on it, sends it to someone looking for a job, and the formatting gets all goofed up because it's not an official version of Office (compatibility has gotten better, especially with gDocs, but I've seen stuff like this happen & it's unfortunate).

So again, half of the issue is the initial hardware/software rollout & the other half is maintenance, which is why I like stuff like Chromebases for Internet kiosks, because you can set them to manage themselves. I used to setup my family on Macs (well, Hackintoshes), but lately I've just had them go the Chromebook/Chromebase/Chromebox route for convenience (and budget!). If they have to use Windows, I set them up with Office, a lifetime Malwarebytes license, and preferably Avast with SafeZone (secure browser) if they'll actually use it. Anything to minimize callbacks :biggrin:

 

[Bryf50]

Raspberry Pi 2 is a lot more usable than the Pi 1, but it's still far too slow even for browsing and office stuff. Modern webpages have too much junk on them for such a slow CPU and forget any kind of in browser streaming video.

Personally, I like the Chromebox idea. Seems like they're relatively easy to set up in a kiosk mode and should handle any regular uses just fine. You can get a chromebox + monitor + m/kb for about $250 on newegg.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Chromebox or Windows. A pi or terminal server is clever, but no one would be able to maintain them if you stopped working with the charity.

 

[cbn]

Like you mentioned, updates are something to think about. The web is constantly upgrading, and your browser needs to be upgraded with it for security & compatibility issues.

I emailed the author of Instant WebKiosk about updates.

If there is not an auto-updater in place now, hopefully there is one planned for the future (or at least a manual updater planned).

 

[cbn]

Raspberry Pi 2 is a lot more usable than the Pi 1, but it's still far too slow even for browsing and office stuff. Modern webpages have too much junk on them for such a slow CPU and forget any kind of in browser streaming video.

I watched the following video with the Raspberry Pi 2 (Cortex A7 quad core @ 900 Mhz) browsing You tube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=190&v=jEOWTQJlHm0

....and it does look rough even with the gentle page scrolling being used. Keep in mind that is with a Firefox based browser though.

Based on my experience with another low end processor the AMD E1-2100 (experience detailed here) with Chromium browser the Raspberry Pi 2 should be faster/smoother, but I wonder how much smoother? (Cortex A7 is a pretty weak CPU core compared to AMD Jaguar, although the Raspberry Pi 2 has 2x the cores as the E1-2100)

In any event, I do like that Instant Web Kiosk software....but maybe its best usage is with x86 (at this time).

Maybe a x86 box with an expired OS or a broken hard drive, coupled to a surplus 1280 x 1024 or greater resolution monitor. Then run the Instant Web Kiosk software off a $5 usb stick. However, with this mentioned at least two things need to be fixed:

1.) It needs an update system

2.) Sleep timer options for display and computer in the System settings (to save power when the system is idle for an X amount of time).

 

[Kaido]

I emailed the author of Instant WebKiosk about updates.

If there is not an auto-updater in place now, hopefully there is one planned for the future (or at least a manual updater planned).

Awesome new option:

http://liliputing.com/2015/10/cloudready-uses-chrome-os-to-breaths-live-into-old-Dcomputers.html

Neverware's Cloudready system puts ChromeOS on any PC ("the only way to get a Chromebook without buying one"). Installs from a USB stick & works on computers up to 8 years old. They worked with Google to produce it, so it's not like a hack like the Hexxeh builds of Chromium. It's targeted towards schools (low-cost tech support, automatic updates, $25 per machine per year or $59 for a 4-year license), although they do have a version for individuals. Here's a link to the free version:

http://www.neverware.com/free/#freedetails

Installation instructions: (PDF)

http://go.neverware.com/freeinstructions

You need an 8gb (or 16gb) USB stick; you can install to the local HDD (full wipe, no support for dual-booting currently) or do a live boot. Fully supported models listed here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yPxKAmNFaJwk0kwikF5iROFMOxiinmkW_9KeI1u5jVo/pub

Dell Optiplex 330's & D630 laptops are a dime a dozen, what a great way to re-use machines! Forums & FAQ here:

https://neverware.************/hc/en-us

They update every 3 weeks. And because they are a certified Google partner, you can enroll your Cloudready machines into Google's Management Console!

https://neverware.************/hc/e...integrate-with-the-Google-Management-console-

Edit: looks like Zendesk is blocked