backup & low downtime for home network

[Robert Brockway]

On Thu, 6 Dec 2007, William Park wrote:

> Hardware is tricky.  For example, if you buy a new PC to be used as
> client, then you have to make sure the kernel has support for the new
> machine's chipsets, network driver, NFS driver, and everything needed to
> mount the (NFS) root device.  If not, then re-compile.  What if the new
> video chipset is not supported by X?  What if the kernel doesn't support
> the new Intel i9900 chipset?

Hi William.  If someone really did want to buy a new machine to use as a 
terminal[1] then the H/W detection problems are going to be independent of 
the machine's use as a terminal.  Run it as a workstation or server with 
the same version of the kernel and you'll encounter exactly the same 
problems.  Thus H/W detection is not a problem related to the use of thin 
client technologies.

I've found this sort of thing is really not much of a problem in practice. 
Autodetection of both Linux and X has improved to the point there are few 
practical problems.  When older machines are used as terminals their 
chipsets tend to be well supported.  True thin clients tend to be made 
from widely distributed chips (not the latest and greatest).

[1] Not a great idea.  Buy a true thin client instead.  Even the lowest 
spec of a desktop box is well beyond what is required for a thin client.

Cheers,

Rob

-- 
"With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine..."
 	-- RFC 1925 "The Twelve Networking Truths"
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