[Gllug] The netwroked house - a terminal in every room >;)

[M.Blackmore]

One of our Oxluggy number is busy renovating our new house in Charlbury 
and we have been discussing what sort of comms wire to run - and how to 
put a "terminal" in every room (well, a number of rooms) in the most 
economical manner.

Cabling: Might as well run a couple of gigabit wires and trunking into 
every room as all the floorboards are up at the moment, though I suspect 
flushing the bog will require a terabit link within the decade...

I don't trust wireless nor its collision with other wireless nodes (this 
is already a problem around this area of Summertown) and if wireless is 
going to be used anywhere, its going to be wired into the immediate area 
and then a short range bluetoothing.

But to the "terminals". Rather than sink money into a number of new 
personal computers, the idea would be to sink money once into a recent 
(but second hand preferably) powerful server. The only reason to run 
windows is on a machine or two for the kids to play games upon, which I 
will confine to the kitchen or similar so I can keep an eye on them. I 
also want to restrict their ability to browse sites unsupervised, but 
that is another issue for now though will become more pressing to find a 
vetted access to websites, like what the schools use.

How should I go about doing this server/terminal system?

One option is to use a number - 3 or 4 I think -  400-500mhz 
motherboards around, with enough atx cases for them, and enough ram for 
256-384mb ram for those, more if I denude the grownups PC's of a couple 
of 128mb sticks. Though the cases are large, clunky and not exactly 
quiet. Could do for the kids' "playroom" for example.

Can these be pressed into service? I'll have to invest in some new 
monitors as there are none associated with these, all being boards left 
over from upgrades, and cases from long dead atx format p133 era machines.

Or should I invest in some new or second hand dedicated "terminals"? If 
so, what? ( Or mini-ITX 'pooters? If so, what specs?

What is the relationship in serving up x sessions to a fairly dumb box, 
i.e between the speed with which screens will be drawn and perceptions 
of "fast" and "slow" on the user end, between the server in t'loft, and 
the speed of the terminal - a 500mhz board with say 384 ram. Or for a 
mini-ITX probably faster and a bit more ram. What is the relationship 
between the video output on the terminal in terms of its "card" and 
itsspeed, compared to the power of the server?

As we are increasingly using weblinked computers as our newspaper and 
magazine, TV and Radio guide (and love to organise a video recorder) 
source for correspondence, voip beckons (or not) and so forth the 
concept of "comp[uter" is fading from our horizons to be replaced with 
general purpose information portal, and I for one miss the loss of the 
living room 'pooter (to make the place look nicer for selling) as I 
would spend quite a lot of time down there pottering reading etc. whilst 
the kids played on the floor, rather than mooching off to the distant 
eyrie of the loft room.

Given that we have a house with no boards and lots of wiring etc. being 
done, seems a good chance to wire the place up thoroughly. But I do want 
to stick to a budget - all the dosh is borrowed money!!

How can I go about meeting all these needs and what are the technical 
aspects of making up a "server" and "terminal" system with only a couple 
of full-power "personal-computers", using either old equipment for the 
terminals, or something more modern with a little pretty box rather than 
hulking ATX cases (even though those may be quieter without any disks in 
them and see wht can be done about fans).

I await the prognostications of the assembled cognoscenti with profound 
interest!
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