[sclug] Cheap'n'nasty Tesco Linux machines

[Tom Carbert-Allen]

Alex Butcher wrote:
>
> In my case:
>
> a) because I'm not in Berkshire these days.
Leaving berkshire sounds temping. I hope you atleast got some coin while 
you were there to take away.
>
> b) because I already (shamefully, I know) have more powerful machines
> sitting idle already...
Me too, the competition was more about trying to find out what other 
cool stuff people do with Linux than getting rid of the box. I will give 
it away on FreeCycle now as a FireFox/MP3 boxen for some lucky teenager.
>
> c) ...because I'm trying to do more with less electricity, these days.
Less electricity is good, but putting hardware only 10 years old into 
the landfil/metal reclaim program is worse in my mind. Those adverts 
from HP which go along the lines of "your old server is using too much 
power, replace it with a new one and save the world" REALLY annoy me, 
because they encourage people to forget about the power (and resources) 
taken in making the box and getting it to you, which in alot of cases 
outways the saving in leccy for the life of the box!
>
> d) because after thirteen years using Linux and associated FOSS, and a
> further five years using PD and some GPLed software on my Amiga, it feels
> like I've done it all already, and there's no novelty to it any more; it
> just works! :-)
I personally find novelty in it still and would hope others do to. I 
installed my first virtualised machines with live migration last month, 
that was a genuine new novelty for me in 2008 already. I can now shut 
any one of the machines in the rack in less than two minutes without 
having to wait for user sessions on it to expire or disconnect them.
>
> Attempting to ignore the legal issues in modern computing is as 
> dangerous as
> trying to ignore Politics, Economics or Physics.

I don't ignore them, but I find disscussing them dull compared to 
disscussing the actual technology.
>
>> TCA
>
> Best Regards,
> Alex.