A friend of mine has two young children and was interested in getting a computer for each of them in their bedroom. I suggested that to save costs I might be able to have 2 keyboards/mice/monitors hooked up to one computer so that they could each be doing different things at the same time without having to actually purchase 2 computers. As I started to think more about it, I started to realize that I didn't really know of any way to make that work. I've found multiple ways to get more than one keyboard and mouse hooked up to a computer, but every solution allows only one person to be accessing the computer at a time. Anyone have some suggestions?
Info on how to have 2 users using one computer to do different things at the same time
- Thread starter Bagger
- Start date
I would suggest just spending a little more and get another computer. You can probably builld a nice integrated video, athlon XP for under 300.
XP 2000 ~55
Biostar Nforce 2 ~66
Maxtor 80gig ~60
Random 300 watt case ~40
256 megs ram ~ 40
CD RW ~30
so around 300 :/
XP 2000 ~55
Biostar Nforce 2 ~66
Maxtor 80gig ~60
Random 300 watt case ~40
256 megs ram ~ 40
CD RW ~30
so around 300 :/
Yeah, it's just that 200 isn't easy for this person to come by, and with two 3-year old boys running around I figured the less breakable components the better.
To be honest, If the kids are that young, they shouldnt be using a computer which will be used for anything important, because it will be constantly jacked up. Kids + Computers = bad news.
yeah I know.... I have tried to gently point out that it would probably be better to just get them a used video game system instead, but the mother's pretty determined that she wants them to each have a computer, so I'm just looking for the best possible setup.
the only system i know of that can do what your asking for is a pentium 4 with hyperthreading. i read somewhere once that you can have multiple users running on it at the same time, but i think its the motherboard taht supports it. i'm not sure wut it is exactly.
The only solution I ever seen came from big company like SGI. They have a server with dumb terminal for user to login and use it. Buy two cheap computer instead. That is your best option.
The barebones case and motherboard run around 300 dollars for the jetway twin Q, so it would be around the same price to build a completely new system or swap old parts out of the current computer and install in the jetway.
3chordcharlie
Diamond Member
- Mar 30, 2004
- 9,859
- 1
- 81
A multi-user machine is more about convenience than cost-savings. Notice in the article on AT that you need to buy a videocard that supports dual monitors before you can start using the two-user mode.
The cheapest thing is to go out and buy two lease-return P3 machines from a computer surplus store (around here you could easily get 2 for $300, and that's canadian money...).
Good luck!
The cheapest thing is to go out and buy two lease-return P3 machines from a computer surplus store (around here you could easily get 2 for $300, and that's canadian money...).
Good luck!
You forgot something Pal... How bout Monitor, keyboard, mouse, case, etc? OS?
Buy Dell or HP (or just buy one of those Walmart PC)
ORRR.... buy from garage sales - scrap place - etc -etc -etc
How exactly did you make it to golden member status without knowing anything?
FYI, Hyper Threading has nothing to do with multiple users. All it does is increase the efficiency of the Pentium 4's long pipelines.
XP 2000 ~55
Biostar Nforce 2 ~66
Maxtor 80gig ~60
Random 300 watt case ~40
256 megs ram ~ 40
CD RW ~30
Man.. When I was 3.. I didn't even have a computer. That's BS. My 2 year old brother uses the PC. Damn kids these days...
3 Year olds don't need nForce 2 Motherboards. 3 year olds don't need 80 gig hard drives.
Hook a little 3 year old with a 1 GHz P3 256 SDRAM 4 MEG INTEL Graphics Card 20GB HD and He's set.
Biostar Nforce 2 ~66
Maxtor 80gig ~60
Random 300 watt case ~40
256 megs ram ~ 40
CD RW ~30
Man.. When I was 3.. I didn't even have a computer. That's BS. My 2 year old brother uses the PC. Damn kids these days...
3 Year olds don't need nForce 2 Motherboards. 3 year olds don't need 80 gig hard drives.
Hook a little 3 year old with a 1 GHz P3 256 SDRAM 4 MEG INTEL Graphics Card 20GB HD and He's set.
what will these children be doing with their computers? i'd suggest getting used computers in the 300-1000mhz range since they can be had for next to nothing.
LOL, listen 'Pal', he has to buy a monitor, mouse, keyboard etc, whether he gets a new box or makes his current box two user. In other words, Pal, it would have been useless listing out things that I assume he already has planned on purchasing or for that matter already owns.
So far here's what I'm leaning towards...
Newegg has the JETWAY MiniQ 2-User Barebone System for Socket 478 at 533MHz FSB Intel CPU, Model MiniQ 435Twin for $162. I figure I can throw in a $68 Celeron 2.4ghz cpu, an old 30gb hdd for $20, 256mb ddr for $20, and a $20 DVD-ROM for a total of $290. My only question is if I NEED a dual-port video card, or if I could just throw in an old PCI vga card and still use the onboard video (which should use the AGP port)? If so I've got an old PCI card sitting around here that I'd have probably just trashed anyways. My other question about the video card is, would a video card with VGA and tv-output work to provide 2 seperate displays, because they'll be using a TV as one of the monitors. If so, I could put an AGP video card in it and still have an open PCI slot so I could put in a TV-tuner card (with as picky as TV tuner cards can be, I wonder if it would play nice with the magictwin software).
Newegg has the JETWAY MiniQ 2-User Barebone System for Socket 478 at 533MHz FSB Intel CPU, Model MiniQ 435Twin for $162. I figure I can throw in a $68 Celeron 2.4ghz cpu, an old 30gb hdd for $20, 256mb ddr for $20, and a $20 DVD-ROM for a total of $290. My only question is if I NEED a dual-port video card, or if I could just throw in an old PCI vga card and still use the onboard video (which should use the AGP port)? If so I've got an old PCI card sitting around here that I'd have probably just trashed anyways. My other question about the video card is, would a video card with VGA and tv-output work to provide 2 seperate displays, because they'll be using a TV as one of the monitors. If so, I could put an AGP video card in it and still have an open PCI slot so I could put in a TV-tuner card (with as picky as TV tuner cards can be, I wonder if it would play nice with the magictwin software).
So it makes sense to you to spend more to buy a two user rig, when you could save money and have two completely separate systems? (the only difference would be purchasing another OS, which could be offset by the price of the barebones Jetway) Besides the fact that a 60 dollar celeron is an absolute dog and with multiple users I can only imagine will absolutely be hell.
Originally posted by: Snoop
So it makes sense to you to spend more to buy a two user rig, when you could save money and have two completely separate systems? (the only difference would be purchasing another OS, which could be offset by the price of the barebones Jetway) Besides the fact that a 60 dollar celeron is an absolute dog and with multiple users I can only imagine will absolutely be hell.
How am I spending more for a 2-user rig when you admitted yourself it would be close to $300 for a single system? They don't have a single computer at ALL right now, so I'd need to buy 2 complete systems. You say the Celeron is a dog but just remember that this will mostly be used for playing kiddie games and online flash games. The most heavy-duty task this computer will possibly perform is some video encoding (and it performs pretty close to a P4 2.0ghz in that respect).
These are three-year-old kids. Buy them two used refurb-return machines for a hundred bucks each.
- M4H
- M4H
3chordcharlie
Diamond Member
- Mar 30, 2004
- 9,859
- 1
- 81
According to the AT review, it looks like you do need a dual-out video card. And you also need two licences for the OS.
TRENDING THREADS
-
Discussion Zen 5 Speculation (EPYC Turin and Strix Point/Granite Ridge - Ryzen 9000)- Started by DisEnchantment
- Replies: 25K
-
Discussion Intel Meteor, Arrow, Lunar & Panther Lakes + WCL Discussion Threads
- Started by Tigerick
- Replies: 22K
-
Discussion Intel current and future Lakes & Rapids thread- Started by TheF34RChannel
- Replies: 23K
-
News NVIDIA and Intel to Develop AI Infrastructure and Personal Computing Products- Started by poke01
- Replies: 411
-
Facebook
Twitter