A lot of programs are not available as a Linux version,
so you can not expect the corporate America to switch from Windoze.

And you can not expect them to use old junk that creates more labor cost from the IT department in the setup alone.

My dumb terminal is the size of a deck of cards that plugs directly
in the DVI port without a DVI cable (e.g dongle) and uses about 5watt of electricity.

 

The estimates I posted are essentially costs for engineering prototypes - if you seriously want to persue this line, you'll need something to demo to investors. The numbers obviously change if you want to try scaling up the quantity into the 10K's, but again, that needs some serious money - i.e. real investors and real money backing you up. Alternatively you can try to sell the idea off to someone, but no one will buy an "idea". If you've done the legwork and gotten a demonstrable piece of hardware (and more importantly the software), you'll be able to get something for your troubles.

As another point of reference, the USB->VGA dongles that are floating around are probably quite a bit less complex than what you want to build, and retail for ~$100 or so. Do you think you can build something more complex for cheaper?

Oh, and another thing - Windows emulation is definitely a viable option - Codeweaver/Wine, or just plain VMWare are nice stopgaps when you really need access to Windows programs.

 

You mean your 'imaginary' dumb terminal is?, from what's you've said you've only imagined a concept - with no real idea of what it might cost or involve?.

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dont forget, it only costs $50 (presumably us dollars?)

my biggest question, since I need a break from work now and again, how well does it run Doom III ?

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Not to good, around 10 frames /sec. and that is if there are no other heave usage of the network at the same time.
But if you go with 640x480 at 16bit you get up to 25 frames/sec, and that is very playable.

Do I already have a working prototype?, how do I know all this stuff?
hmmm.........

 

If you did why would you be asking here?.

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Just playing with you geeks.

I'm not an engineer or even work in the electronic industry.
But that makes me to look outside the box and that's when
the magic happens.

I have contacted a company that do a product close to this idea
and see if they want to run with it.

 

We can all imagine things, but that doesn't mean it's possible - in this case it probably would require 'magic' to work?.

I wouldn't have thought so?, it's not a practical idea - your non-processor idea is a complete non-starter - far too expensive to do without at least one processor.

__________________
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http://www.winpicprog.co.uk

 

Your PIC fan so you like tiny and cheap CPUs.
But it think it would choke in trying to move 100MB/sec of data.

It will use DMA and with a very simple Blitter function.

 

Certainly would - I never suggested micro-controllers, I always specified 'processor' - perhaps even DSP?.

Good luck to you - but I think you're dreaming!.

__________________
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http://www.winpicprog.co.uk

 

This feels very familiar to X Terminals: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Windo...em#X_terminals

 

Exactly.

Even though you can have several users logged on, it doesn't mean they're actually using the operating system at the same time. This is only possible by using several monitors, keyboards, and mouses in which case each user would require a separate licence.

I think this is stupid, whatever happend to fair use?

Providing you're not using the software commercially you should be able to install it on as many machines as you like providing it's only for personal use.

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MS licencing typically excludes any form of multiplexing and thus licences would be required for each user.

MS already has Terminal Server and specific licensing for this and the products that run under it and also covers what the OS licensing requirements are at the thin client. Simply put, if you get the "benefits" of say Windows XP at the thin client, you must purchase an XP licence for it.

Other's have already mentioned cheap PC's what about something like a Hauppauge Media MVP as a starting point? It's about $100, has ethernet interface, a processor, runs linux and has a video output although this is only composite video or RGB for PAL/NTSC but as a concept provides a price point for a processor based device. It boots the OS via tftp and defaults with support for a VNC like prototol.

Can it work for this project? Not as such but does suggest a price point for a simple but vaguely similar device.

David.