[wellylug] A little project....

Glen Ogilvie nelg at linuxsolutions.co.nz
Mon Jul 15 18:21:52 NZST 2002 

For new users, I think that Mandrake is an easy distrobution to use, however, 
by the spec of these computers, it would be too resource hungry without using 
a more powerful server I think.

Lets look at exactly what they might be doing, and what software that's linux 
bases is available to do this.  

Word processing with clip art, spell checker, and ability to read MS word 
documents.    -- Star Office?  Open Office?, hancom office?, koffice?, 
abiword?.

Excel / powerpoint / publications.    Apps?

Suring the internet / email.   -- 	Netscape?, Mozilla, Opera, konquer, galeon, 
pine, kmail, evolution.

Printing -- will need good printer support.

Any other concepts of the things they will be doing?

I see that for finding a solution, we are going to need consider first off, is 
this possible?   I personally, have not found any of the office type 
applications to run well on low powered machines.  My personal consideration 
would put Star Office, koffice, mozilla, out of the picture from the start, 
because they all have huge memory footprints.

Second, what versions of linux have good support for printers, and other 
hardware restraints.  Followed by how they can run the applications.

Maybe we should consider looking at QNX as well, because of it's fairly good 
performance for lower spec computers.

Anyway..  I support trying, but can't offer to do much, as time is limited for 
me

Glen

>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Damon Lynch [mailto:damon at dev-zone.org]
> > Sent: Monday, 15 July 2002 16:25
> > To: wellylug at yahoogroups.com
> > Subject: Re: [wellylug] A little project....
> >
> >
> > Debian?   I like and respect Debian.  It's on our server at
> > the office.
> > But as a standalone desktop for novice users without hand-held support
> > -- I don't think it would be suitable.  It's great for
> > hardcore techies
> > but not much good for the bewildered newbie.
> >
> > Also, it's packages are compiled for 386 class machines right, not
> > Pentium?
> >
> > But if you are talking of Linux Terminal Services and a
> > solid, competent
> > techie to maintain it on the server, it's possible.  But
> > that's going to
> > cost $$$.  Who's going to give them a grunty server for free?
> >
> > Otherwise, if pure networked desktops, surely a more desktop-oriented
> > distro would be better?  One with auto-detection of hardware, a few
> > wizards and GUI front ends etc.
> >
> > Damon
> >
> > On Mon, 2002-07-15 at 15:59, Tom Peck wrote: Hi Rob
> >
> > When you say 'Pentium with 64MB memory' do you mean Pentium first
> > generation 75Mhz - 150Mhz machines?
> >
> > I have successfully setup Debian Woody on a Pentium 133Mhz -
> > it's rather
> > slow when running programs locally (like mozilla), but using it as a
> > terminal type machine works fine when connected to a decent server
> > system (mine connects to a P3 700, running Gnome2 + GDM).
> >
> > What sort of software will be needed on the systems?  I'd recommend
> > Debian as a fairly easy to install low resource requiring distro.
> >
> > Tom
> >
> > Rob Giltrap - Ubiety Group wrote:
> > > Hi All
> > >
> > > I have been speaking with the '2020 Communications Trust'.
> >
> > They have
> >
> > > been given 400 PCs (mostly Pentium with 64MB memory) from the Wgtn
> >
> > City
> >
> > > Council to distribute to charitable organisations within Wellington.
> > >
> > > A problem they have is that this PCs often come without the MS
> >
> > licences
> >
> > > and to pay for them is not an option. The would prefer to
> >
> > investigate
> >
> > > putting open source software onto these machines so that they are
> >
> > usable
> >
> > > by the non-profit orgs and then they don't have to worry
> >
> > about being
> >
> > > audited.
> > >
> > > I have suggested that this could be a project for the
> >
> > WellyLUG members
> >
> > > to come up with a solution. Due to the age/power of the machines
> >
> > loading
> >
> > > RH7.3 and cranking up Gnome/Nautilus is not going to be
> >
> > viable. There
> > is
> >
> > > also the question of ongoing support and training which
> >
> > will need to
> >
> > > have answers.
> > >
> > > If we are interested in taking on this challenge the 2020
> > > representitives will come to the next WellyLUG meeting.
> > >
> > > Your ideas/comments will be well recieved.
> > >
> > > Thanks, Rob.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >   .-.   Wellington
> > >   /V\   Linux
> > >  // \\  Users
> > > /(   )\ Group
> > >  ^^-^^
> > >         http://wlug.paradise.net.nz/
> > >
> > > To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
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> > >
> > >
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> > --
> > Damon Lynch
> > Dev-Zone Program Officer
> > http://www.dev-zone.org     Jabber Messaging: damonlynch at jabber.com
> > Tel: +64 4 496 9597         Yahoo Messaging:  damonlynch at yahoo.com
> >
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