A new thin Client from UK (Mostly Derived from Simputer)

[Rakesh 'Arky' Ambati]

FYI 

--arky

> On 5/1/05, Herald D'Sa <herald.desa at gmail.com> wrote:
>         
>         http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4496901.stm
>         http://www.ndiyo.org/
>         http://www.newnhamresearch.com/
>         
>         A pared down "computer" to replace bulky, grey desktop PCs
>         could help
>         close global digital inequalities.
>         
>         Not-for-profit developers, Ndiyo - the Swahili word for "yes"
>         - said it 
>         could open up the potential of computing to two billion more
>         people.
>         
>         The sub-£100 box, called Nivo, runs on open-source software
>         and is
>         known as a "thin client". Several can be linked up to a
>         central 
>         "brain", or server.
>         
>         Thin clients are not new, but advances have made them more
>         user-friendly.
>         
>         They have been employed in large organisations in the past,
>         but the
>         Ndiyo project is about "ultra-thin client" networking. 
>         
>         It said the small, cheap boxes were targeted at smaller
>         companies,
>         cybercafes, or schools, which need an affordable, reliable
>         system for
>         providing clusters of two to 20 workstations.
>         
>         "Your PC is a bulky, noisy, expensive mess that clutters up
>         your life," 
>         Ndiyo's Dr Seb Wills told a Microsoft Research conference in
>         Cambridge,
>         UK.
>         
>         "Our emphasis and core motivation is the developing world for
>         whom the
>         current 'one user, one PC' approach will never be affordable,"
>         he told 
>         the BBC News website.
>         
>         "But we think our approach is also of benefit to organisations
>         in the
>         developed world who don't want to throw away money on buying
>         and
>         maintaining a full PC for each user." 
>         
>         Open source
>         
>         Desktop machines with which we are familiar, are inflexible,
>         and
>         power-hungry, according to Ndiyo.
>         
>         The raw materials used for a PC are 11 to 12 times the weight
>         of the
>         machine, he explained. 
>         
>         Typical office workstation set-ups also use more power than
>         thin
>         clienting. A PC typically uses 100W of power, whereas Nivo
>         uses five.
>         
>         In some developing countries, buying a desktop computer is the
>         equivalent to the price of a house, explained Dr Wills, making
>         it 
>         difficult for people to take advantage of what computing
>         technology can
>         offer.
>         
>         "Nowadays, PCs are about communication than anything else," he
>         said.
>         "We have the potential to rethink the way we could do this
>         stuff," he 
>         added.
>         
>         The boxes would not be able to handle graphics-intensive
>         multimedia
>         content currently, but that will change as ethernet bitrates
>         improve to
>         handle more data.
>         
>         About 50% of the UK's workforce work in organisations with
>         fewer than 
>         50 employees, according to Ndiyo.
>         
>         NIVO'S OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE
>         Nivo box
>         Ubuntu - Linux operating system
>         Gnome/KDE desktop
>         Open Office
>         Firefox browser
>         Gaim - instant messenger client
>         Thunderbird - cross-platform e-mail and Usenet client 
>         Currently, each employee might have his or her own desktop
>         machine,
>         connected to the company network through ethernet connections,
>         with
>         software licences for each workstation.
>         
>         Licences for software are often a significant part of
>         expenditure for 
>         smaller companies which rely on computers.
>         
>         But a recent UK government study, yet to be formally
>         published, has
>         shown that open source software can significantly reduce
>         school budgets
>         dedicated to computing set-ups. 
>         
>         Many organisations replace PCs every three years and also
>         require
>         technical support when something goes wrong.
>         
>         Thin clients using open source software can mean these
>         expenses are
>         bypassed.
>         
>         Since August 2004, Ndiyo has had a group of Java developers
>         running 
>         large applications to test out the robustness of the system.
>         
>         The small Nivo box, developed along with a commercial partner,
>         Newnham
>         Research in Cambridge, is essentially a computer - known as
>         the
>         "client" - which largely depends on the central server for
>         processing 
>         activities.
>         
>         Applications, for instance, are kept on the main server and
>         accessed
>         through the Nivo box.
>         
>         Next generation
>         
>         The Nivo unit itself measures around 12 by eight by two
>         centimetres. It
>         has no moving parts, but it has ports for ethernet, power,
>         keyboard,
>         mouse and a monitor.
>         
>         It comes with two megabytes of RAM. The next version currently
>         under
>         development will have a USB port, soundcard, local storage
>         capacity, 
>         and will be even smaller.
>         
>         "Essentially, it is about sending pixels over the net,"
>         explained Dr
>         Wills.
>         
>         Amida Simputer
>         The Simputer is a handheld computing solution for developing
>         nations
>         "With modern ethernet connections, you can get enough
>         performance by
>         sending through compressed pixels."
>         
>         A typical cybercafe set-up, Dr Wills explained, would involve
>         20 Nivo
>         boxes, a gigabit switch, and a single 2Ghz, 2Gb RAM server. 
>         
>         The not-for-profit origination is also working on the idea of
>         using the
>         Nivo box for "plug and play" clustering.
>         
>         Ultimately, Ndiyo hopes that the box can shrink down to a
>         single chip
>         and introduce wireless ethernet connections. 
>         
>         "The vision is that the monitor will have an ethernet port
>         which
>         requires less electronics than the standard VGA monitor," said
>         Dr
>         Wills.
>         
>         Open source software is used in many developing country
>         computer 
>         initiatives. There are other attempts at providing cheap
>         alternatives
>         to desktop PCs for developing countries, such as the Simputer.
>         
>         This is a cheap handheld computer designed by Indian
>         scientists.
>