/tech/ - Running multiple desktops from the same PC

Name: Generic Coffee Shop Owner 2011-03-07 12:04

Hi thur, /tech/

I'm working in a coffee shop/web cafe that wants to replace its current computers (the current are pentium 3, 256mb RAM, etc). They have a budget of £1200, which doesn't include peripherals. My question is this: Is there any way multiple clients (ie screen/peripheral pairs) could be run from the same server? As far as I can see, running 4 VMs from a workstation with 8 cores and 12GB RAM would be far, far more cost effective than the acer revos they intend to get at the moment.
If so, what use? I can't see any way of virtualising well enough

Name: Anonymous 2011-03-07 13:36

buy a couple of small silent workstations (solid state HD, fanless) with 2-4GB RAM each. make 'em run something like xubuntu and put a skype and a firefox/chrome icon on the desktop.

Name: Anonymous 2011-03-07 16:40

That's my other option at the moment, but in terms of cost I'm not sure we can manage them for the budget. There are some HTPC like things selling relatively cheap on ebuyer at the moment, so I guess if I got some of them and swapped the hard drives out that would be a suitable alternative?

Name: jessica 2011-03-09 6:10

Running multiple desktops from the same PC

1 Name: Generic Coffee Shop Owner 2011-03-07 12:04

2 Name: Anonymous 2011-03-07 13:36

3 Name: Anonymous 2011-03-07 16:40

4 Name: jessica 2011-03-09 6:10

Name: Generic Coffee Shop Owner 2011-03-07 12:04

Name: Anonymous 2011-03-07 13:36

Name: Anonymous 2011-03-07 16:40

Name: jessica 2011-03-09 6:10