Andrew (R.S Admin) @ajroach42@retro.social

@kelbot i didn't know about this.

@DHeadshot @kelbot frogfind proxies the results, and serves them in readibility mode.

@kelbot http://www.frogfind.com/

@DHeadshot same person

@yam655 Oh, using a web browser on an old thin client Sucks.

I mean, it's fine. You can do it. But trying to use a modern web application is miserable.

Plus, ideologically, this place is about empowering people to take control of their futures. Relying on a web app, unless it's one we host on site, is counterproductive to our core mission.

@yam655 Could you expand on this thought a little?

@LilFluff That's how I use my Pi and HP omnibook 300.

@yam655 We're going to have three different computer areas.

One will be a general computer lab, for like web browsing and research and writing reports and stuff. The thin clients will go there.

The others will be for robotics, video editing, and image editing.

There's no reason you *can't* do video rendering or image editing on the thin client, but it makes more sense to launch those applications remotely on a more powerful server.

@yam655 we'll still use them as graphical terminals for heavy apps, but they can run stuff local too.

@yam655 i snagged 10 newer than that. 2 cores, 4GB ram, 64 bit processors. They won't win any awards, but they're plenty for $20.

@yam655 That's probably closer to what we'll end up with, but likely just with newer thin clients.

@yam655 IT's a cheaper fit, because it means I don't need to have a bunch of adapters, and I can use VGA monitors, plus these come with mice and keyboards.

With the Pi 0, I would at least need an ethernet adapter, a USB adapter, a mini HDMI to full sized adapter, and possibly also an HDMI to VGA adapter, plus a mouse and keyboard.

That takes the pi up to the $40 range, at best, at which point I could have a full i5 desktop from the recycler.

@ieure Good callout. Networked audio was a roadblock I hit in the past as well.

@djsundog I doubt these things are going anywhere any time soon. I'll pick some up when you're in town and we'll figure it out.

@fraggle The HPs will likely be more expensive (not significant'y more, mind you, but at that point I might as well go for the $25-30 thin clients, instead of the sub $5 thin clients, and get something that can be used standalone.)

I've used them for DOS gaming and for basic web tasks, but also as writing computers, etc.

@profoundlynerdy I've had decent luck running HPs thin clients as PCs, but I've never tinkered with any this old, or used any as actual thin clients.

I've never done this in a multi-user setup, or with non-technical end users, but I can't think of a good reason not to.

At it's heart, it seems like it should be simple enough. My only real concern is making sure that the mainframe has enough juice, and a big enough straw.

But these are *old* thin clients. I think they were designed for Windows CE? So there are doubtless concerns that I'm missing.