On Mar 24, 8:50 am, carto...@gmail.com wrote:
> It is my understanding that back in the old days of UNIX (80's), that
> it was not uncommon to find one physical machine with multiple dumb
> terminals. I need to setup a 5 station kiosk system that will run a
> web browser. It dawned on me that in theory I should be able to use
> Linux on one physical box and simply put multiple video cards in it
> and hook up multiple keyboards/mice to it. The only question is:
> how? Are there any howto or faq's out there on the subject?

http://userful.com/products/multi-station-how-it-works

cartoper@gmail.com wrote:
> It is my understanding that back in the old days of UNIX (80's), that
> it was not uncommon to find one physical machine with multiple dumb
> terminals. I need to setup a 5 station kiosk system that will run a
> web browser. It dawned on me that in theory I should be able to use
> Linux on one physical box and simply put multiple video cards in it
> and hook up multiple keyboards/mice to it. The only question is:
> how? Are there any howto or faq's out there on the subject?

I saw the switchbox to do that someplace on tigerdirect.com That is all i know
about doing it.

--
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-- The Iron Webmaster, 3732
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On 24 mar, 17:50, carto...@gmail.com wrote:
> It is my understanding that back in the old days of UNIX (80's), that
> it was not uncommon to find one physical machine with multiple dumb
> terminals. I need to setup a 5 station kiosk system that will run a
> web browser. It dawned on me that in theory I should be able to use
> Linux on one physical box and simply put multiple video cards in it
> and hook up multiple keyboards/mice to it. The only question is:
> how? Are there any howto or faq's out there on the subject?


See http://www.ltsp.org/

Linux Terminal Server Project

You need to buy thin clients or use old PC that you turn into thin
clients (The PC must have PXE boot capable BIOS)

François Patte

On Mar 25, 10:39 pm, "François Patte" paris5.fr> wrote:
> On 24 mar, 17:50, carto...@gmail.com wrote:
>
> > It is my understanding that back in the old days of UNIX (80's), that
> > it was not uncommon to find one physical machine with multiple dumb
> > terminals. I need to setup a 5 station kiosk system that will run a
> > web browser. It dawned on me that in theory I should be able to use
> > Linux on one physical box and simply put multiple video cards in it
> > and hook up multiple keyboards/mice to it. The only question is:
> > how? Are there any howto or faq's out there on the subject?
>
> See http://www.ltsp.org/
>
> Linux Terminal Server Project
>
> You need to buy thin clients or use old PC that you turn into thin
> clients (The PC must have PXE boot capable BIOS)

François,

I am putting together a portable kiosk system. I am trying to get it
down to simply one physical box and needing only multiple monitors,
keyboards, and mice. I was always under the impression that Linux
could do that, some how.

Cartoper

(cartoper@gmail.com) writes:
> On Mar 25, 10:39 pm, "Fran=E7ois Patte" > paris5.fr> wrote:
>> On 24 mar, 17:50, carto...@gmail.com wrote:
>>
>> > It is my understanding that back in the old days of UNIX (80's), that
>> > it was not uncommon to find one physical machine with multiple dumb
>> > terminals. I need to setup a 5 station kiosk system that will run a
>> > web browser. It dawned on me that in theory I should be able to use
>> > Linux on one physical box and simply put multiple video cards in it
>> > and hook up multiple keyboards/mice to it. The only question is:
>> > how? Are there any howto or faq's out there on the subject?
>>
>> See http://www.ltsp.org/
>>
>> Linux Terminal Server Project
>>
>> You need to buy thin clients or use old PC that you turn into thin
>> clients (The PC must have PXE boot capable BIOS)
>
> Fran=E7ois,
>
> I am putting together a portable kiosk system. I am trying to get it
> down to simply one physical box and needing only multiple monitors,
> keyboards, and mice. I was always under the impression that Linux
> could do that, some how.
>
Have you checked the existing HOWTOs? I'm sure I saw something somewhere,
maybe it wasn't a HOWTO, that explained how to use more than one video
card.

The limitation is likely the hardware. I don't know how video cards are
addressed, but if they require the same address, that's a problem.
Likewise, up until USB, there wasn't really any good way of adding
multiple keyboards.

Traditionally, Unix was never used with built in video, it used serial
ports to connect to terminals. Doing it your way would be a modern
way.

Michael

Lew Pitcher wrote:

>On Mar 24, 8:50 am, carto...@gmail.com wrote:
>
>
>>It is my understanding that back in the old days of UNIX (80's), that
>>it was not uncommon to find one physical machine with multiple dumb
>>terminals. I need to setup a 5 station kiosk system that will run a
>>web browser. It dawned on me that in theory I should be able to use
>>Linux on one physical box and simply put multiple video cards in it
>>and hook up multiple keyboards/mice to it. The only question is:
>>how? Are there any howto or faq's out there on the subject?
>>
>>
>
>http://userful.com/products/multi-station-how-it-works
>

This is one way but most distributions allow this without paying extra
for it. Some Googling (rtfg?) quickly finds:

http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Multiseat_X

and

http://cambuca.ldhs.cetuc.puc-rio.br/multiuser/

From there you can probably find more. I searched on "x11 multiple
keyboards howto".

Good luck,

Steve

On Mar 25, 11:51 pm, e...@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Michael Black) wrote:

> Have you checked the existing HOWTOs? I'm sure I saw something somewhere,
> maybe it wasn't a HOWTO, that explained how to use more than one video
> card.

Back in the 90's I was playing with *INX alot and knew where to find
bunches of HOWTO's, but not anymore. Can you direct me?

> The limitation is likely the hardware. I don't know how video cards are
> addressed, but if they require the same address, that's a problem.
> Likewise, up until USB, there wasn't really any good way of adding
> multiple keyboards.
>
> Traditionally, Unix was never used with built in video, it used serial
> ports to connect to terminals. Doing it your way would be a modern
> way.

Yea, I know there is this company, ThinSoft, that does EXACTLY what I
want to do, but he OS is Windows, not *NIX. The problem is that the
kiosk stations simply need to run a web browser, I don't see any
reason to drop $100 for an OS simply to run a web browser Here is
the link to ThinSoft's solution called BeTwin 2000/XP:

http://www.thinsoftinc.com/product_p...ng_betwin.aspx

Now to find the same thing for Linux, or any flavor of *NIX.

Cartoper

I demand that cartoper@gmail.com may or may not have written...

> On Mar 25, 11:51 pm, e...@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Michael Black) wrote:
>> Have you checked the existing HOWTOs? I'm sure I saw something
>> somewhere, maybe it wasn't a HOWTO, that explained how to use more than
>> one video card.

> Back in the 90's I was playing with *INX alot and knew where to find
> bunches of HOWTO's, but not anymore. Can you direct me?

http://tldp.org/

I also have /usr/share/doc/HOWTO, provided by doc-linux-html or
doc-linux-text (Debian); there is also doc-linux-nonfree-html.

[snip]
--
| Darren Salt | linux or ds at | nr. Ashington, | Toon
| RISC OS, Linux | youmustbejoking,demon,co,uk | Northumberland | Army
| + Generate power using sun, wind, water, nuclear. FORGET COAL AND OIL.

An atom blaster is a good weapon, but it can point both ways.

--
John Hasler
john@dhh.gt.org
Dancing Horse Hill
Elmwood, WI USA

cartoper@gmail.com wrote:

>Yea, I know there is this company, ThinSoft, that does EXACTLY what I
>want to do, but he OS is Windows, not *NIX. The problem is that the
>kiosk stations simply need to run a web browser, I don't see any
>reason to drop $100 for an OS simply to run a web browser Here is
>the link to ThinSoft's solution called BeTwin 2000/XP:
>
>http://www.thinsoftinc.com/product_p...ng_betwin.aspx
>
>Now to find the same thing for Linux, or any flavor of *NIX.
>

Did you check out Lew Pitcher's post or my post? These both seem to be
exactly what you want. One for free and one for a fee.