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[NMLUG] Fast X Distribution for older hardware.
One thing I've learned:
Don't try to start Firefox (or Mozilla) in authorized_keys2, issue a
command from .bashrc instead.
For some reason, starting the browser from within authorized_keys2
results in the browser not really running "over there" and not running
"over here" either, but lost somewhere in between. The user gets a
broken, unreliable interface.
I've found that I can start it from .bashrc, and it runs fine.
Had the same problem trying to start up kde from authorized_keys2 -- no
bueno.
jody
Jody Harris wrote:
> Try it with 512MB first. Do some load testing. Use openbox, or one of
> the other slim desktops, and see if there's even a need for more RAM.
>
> I really don't know how many kiosks you could reasonable support with
> 512MB. Firefox may be a lot thinner than Mozilla, but any HTML parser
> just takes memory -- and that's before you start loading plugins.
>
> Oh, yeah, on really-thin clients (browser kiosks), I use Firefox AS the
> desktop, and automate the connections with bash, ssh keys for logins,
> and have the kiosk user automatically logged in at boot.
>
> simple, simple, simple. (Once you figure it out.)
>
> jody
>
> Tim Emerick wrote:
>> Thanks for that suggestion Jody.
>>
>> As a matter of fact I do have a spare P4 Celeron 2.7ish GHZ machine with
>> 512MB ram looking to do some real work. Wouldn't be a problem to
>> throw some
>> more ram in it and see how it all works out.
>>
>> Tim
>>
>> --- Jody Harris <havoc@harrisdev.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Tim,
>>>
>>> the machine I sit at and work from every day is a PII 366 w/288MB
>>> RAM, 20 GB hard drive and a burned up CD-ROM drive.
>>>
>>> I run SUSE LINUX 9.2, KDE, OpenOffice.org, Firefox, Konsole,
>>> Thunderbird and Kontact.
>>>
>>> How?
>>>
>>> When I log onto this machine, I log into SUSE's "failsafe," which
>>> gives me X and an xterm. From there, I ssh (-CX) to the AthlonXP
>>> 2500+/1GB RAM in the back room, and kick off my KDE desktop with
>>> startkde.
>>>
>>> viola! Life is good AND fast.
>>>
>>> Now, all you have to have is one good, fast, well endowed (RAM)
>>> machine, and you can multiply it into a dozen good, fast kiosks. You
>>> could build the fast machine for less than $500.00, probably.
>>> Depending on what you limited the clients to, you might get away with
>>> less for all 12 "kiosks." If you use a less greedy desktop, you're
>>> golden for sure.
>>>
>>> jody
>>>
>>> Tim Emerick wrote:
>>>> I have about a dozen machines with the following configuration:
>>>> PII-Celeron 300 Mhz
>>>> 3 gig HD's
>>>> 160MB RAM
>>>> 3com 3c905b NIC
>>>> ATI Rage 3D on board
>>>> Yamaha Sound on board
>>>>
>>>> I've been really hopeful that I could recycle these into some decent
>>>> web
>>>> browsing machines but have been fairly disappointed with the results up
>>> to
>>>> this point.
>>>>
>>>> I've used the Knoppix Live CD and the MEPIS (www.mepis.org) Live CD and
>>>> wasn't too impressed. I've also installed the MEPIS distro onto the HD
>>> of
>>>> one machine just to see how it worked. Again, fairly dismal.
>>>>
>>>> I want to know if I'm asking too much for these older machines or am I
>>>> running packages that are too top heavy? I know that both Knoppix and
>>> Mepis
>>>> are Debian/KDE based distros.
>>>>
>>>> Anybody have any experience with other distro's that might give me a
>>> speedy
>>>> yet user-friendly desktop and browser on these older machines?
>>>>
>>>> Thanks
>>>>
>>>> Tim
--
http://www.RealizationSystems.com/ -- start communicating
http://www.GalacticSlacker.com/ -- read it and weep
http://www.NMPerspective.com/ -- a Southwest Perspective
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