~ Let me add a few more general points about multiseat environments ... ~ Multiseat environments have been a great unexploited idea for a long time (what happened with cars in the 70's has been happening with computers since the 90's, but no paradigm shift has really happened since then) The only issues that I see with it are security and truly functional independent seats. Sure nowadays you can possibly hook up 24 seats to a commercial box with enough (like 6 or 8?) free pci slots and RAM, but say you have an Internet cafe at some airport/hotel; would the SSL protocol (based on the plain mac address) take into consideration that each person has an individual session going on? How safe would it be? How would you restrict your users environments regarding security? OK, for kiosks it would be great, but is this what we truly want? ~ Also say you have a home setup or a lab in which security illusions are less of an issue and using one of these 50 a 100 ft long VGA cables you have a "seat" in another room. How would she from her room use a USB external mini device with her data, if USB cables can not be that long (this is why the picture of the Linux mag article looks unbearably crowded ;-)) Extra large keyboard, sound and monitor cables are not that expensive (and if companies start mass marketting them they would surely become even less expensive) but USB cables/protocol have some physical impairments. That is why people using cameras and hidden places need all these "repeaters" and stuff ~ A possible solution to this problem (as I see it and I have tried a number of things (including those Roxio KM-13 keyboards with USB connectors in them) and read about/thought about such issues at length) would be to use one of those high-end monitors, which cables double with sound and USB connections, work as a truly functional USB hub (form which you could connect mouse, keyboard, pen, mini drives ...). A pen drive you may use, but they would not power up a mini drive which would be a drag to some semi-serious work, say students at college or designers editing their large images ~ If those and a number of other issues are addressed pertaining to the OS (virtualization, network and fs security ...), hardware, ACPI, SSL, user related issues like "presence" (users should be able "to sit any seat" and select the environment they prefer including OS and just carry their data in a pocket-size mini drive with them) ... as well as software related ones. Multiseat environments would be the next great thing, not only regarding the savings on hardware, but also on the utility bill ;-) … as well as it would naturally create new posibilities such as more efficient squid installations in schools seamless backups, ... ~ lbrtchx
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