http://ictdchick.com/blog/2009/01/23/ubuntu-ifying-the-eeepcs-netbook-mania-part-ii/ musings and meanderings of a multi-disciplinary researcher learning about information technology use in developing regions Mon, 21 Nov 2011 07:51:33 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://ictdchick.com/blog/2009/01/23/ubuntu-ifying-the-eeepcs-netbook-mania-part-ii/comment-page-1/#comment-329 melissa Mon, 26 Jan 2009 13:31:15 +0000 http://ictdchick.com/blog/2009/01/23/ubuntu-ifying-the-eeepcs-netbook-mania-part-ii/#comment-329 The power situation is actually pretty different - in the offices, there are generator backups all day (indeed, they are often running on generator for weeks at a time) and the power outages are on the order of minutes, not hours or days. I don't expect the laptops to ever be in a situation in which they are ever powered off completely. However, if they are, they are pretty much sitting where someone can easily power them on again, rather than in an isolated server room - which was the case with the mac minis in Ghana. It's a completely different deployment situation. However - I don't necessarily think that the laptops are a good long term solution - they are just a convenient, low cost package for researchers to consider packing in their repertoire in the short run while testing out software? In the long run I imagine they might be less robust, a little slow and a little hard to get fixed once the researcher leaves, unless the projection is just to get the netbooks replaced once a year? (admittedly with the drop in the value of the british pound, you can get a netbook in LHR for pretty darn cheap...) The power situation is actually pretty different – in the offices, there are generator backups all day (indeed, they are often running on generator for weeks at a time) and the power outages are on the order of minutes, not hours or days. I don’t expect the laptops to ever be in a situation in which they are ever powered off completely. However, if they are, they are pretty much sitting where someone can easily power them on again, rather than in an isolated server room – which was the case with the mac minis in Ghana. It’s a completely different deployment situation. However – I don’t necessarily think that the laptops are a good long term solution – they are just a convenient, low cost package for researchers to consider packing in their repertoire in the short run while testing out software? In the long run I imagine they might be less robust, a little slow and a little hard to get fixed once the researcher leaves, unless the projection is just to get the netbooks replaced once a year? (admittedly with the drop in the value of the british pound, you can get a netbook in LHR for pretty darn cheap…)

]]> http://ictdchick.com/blog/2009/01/23/ubuntu-ifying-the-eeepcs-netbook-mania-part-ii/comment-page-1/#comment-330 Paul Sun, 25 Jan 2009 04:22:44 +0000 http://ictdchick.com/blog/2009/01/23/ubuntu-ifying-the-eeepcs-netbook-mania-part-ii/#comment-330 the argument in your last paragraph isn't a good general one. we actually talked about using old laptops for those exact reasons (cost, built in battery, peripherals). the actual problem with using laptops as servers is that the battery only lasts a few hours (shorter than many power outages), at which point the laptop shuts down. that's great and very UPS-like except that there are basically no laptops that can be conveniently BIOS-configured to reboot when power is restored (unlike desktops - that's the way the respective motherboard chipsets are designed). this means somebody has to go and turn the system back on when power comes back. given that ghana was dealing with day-long outages every other day, that's not really a viable option for an unattended server. the power outage situation is presumably more tolerable in mbarara. the argument in your last paragraph isn’t a good general one. we actually talked about using old laptops for those exact reasons (cost, built in battery, peripherals). the actual problem with using laptops as servers is that the battery only lasts a few hours (shorter than many power outages), at which point the laptop shuts down. that’s great and very UPS-like except that there are basically no laptops that can be conveniently BIOS-configured to reboot when power is restored (unlike desktops – that’s the way the respective motherboard chipsets are designed). this means somebody has to go and turn the system back on when power comes back. given that ghana was dealing with day-long outages every other day, that’s not really a viable option for an unattended server. the power outage situation is presumably more tolerable in mbarara.

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