The Most Awesome, Least-Advertised Fedora 17 Feature

The Most Awesome, Least-Advertised Fedora 17 Feature(0pointer.de)

25 points by gnufs 14 years ago | 6 comments

dmayle 14 years ago |

So, it's about adding automatic 'multi-seat' support, which is basically support for multiples of the group (keyboard, mouse, monitor) each configured with their own X server. (And the automatic launching of X server and configuration).

Given that the linked hardware in question is $65, why not just get a bunch of Raspberry Pi boards and give each user a dedicated machine for half the cost?

Now, I know that machine administration is not free, and you might argue that managing a single multi-seat machine is less effort than handling a fleet of $35 computers. That's a software problem, however, and solvable.

I suppose there's also the additional network equipment required ($60 for a cheap 24 port 10/100 switch, plus cables).

There's also the fact that the 'multi-seat' ports are VGA, so can use older, discard monitors.

Ok, it's not so clear cut, but I still think the Raspberry Pi solution is preferrable...

mattmillr 14 years ago | |

One advantage to using a multi-seat solution is the same reason virtualization in datacenters works so well. One user isn't going to maximize resource usage at all times, so my spare CPU cycles are available for you when you need to run a bursty CPU-intensive app and vice versa.

astrodust 14 years ago |

I remember in university having half a dozen X terminals attached to a single Sun Sparc which wasn't even as powerful as an iPhone. One high-powered SGI server had dozens of these terminals attached to it. That was how you stretched your hardware budget as far as it could go.

It's kind of amusing that we've come full circle in that regard, now using a single CPU for multiple independent sessions. At least it's not all networked X Window any more.

jsnell 14 years ago |

All that Ubuntu-baiting in the post makes this seems like yet another totally useless but demo-friendly feature used to lobby for a disruptive new way of doing things. I'm not quite sure yet of what good systemd is supposed to do besides breaking almost two decades of muscle memory on how to manage services. But this post does not fill me with hope of there being any tangible real world benefit.

It's not unlike pulseaudio with all the imaginary benefits that might be relevant once in a lifetime, which in no way balanced out the continuing inconvenience and pain that it's caused in practice.

emmelaich 14 years ago | |

"all that ubuntu-baiting" ?! It's mentioned in one paragraph with respect to their decision to not use systemd, of which the poster is the author. And it's clearly relevant.

whalesalad 14 years ago |

Wow. 17. I still have a Fedora 1 DVD from way back in the day. Crazy to think that it's progressed so far!