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Open Economies - Re: [OpenEconomies] Need for a standard set of specifications for recycled computers

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Re: [OpenEconomies] Need for a standard set of specifications for recycled computers

  • To: openeconomies(at)cyber.law.harvard.edu
  • Subject: Re: [OpenEconomies] Need for a standard set of specifications for recycled computers
  • From: Iqbal Mohomed <iqbal_iia(at)yahoo.com>
  • Date: Fri, 20 Sep 2002 02:21:21 -0700 (PDT)
  • In-reply-to: <5910396028.20020920081942@bigpond.net.au>
Hello Richard,

I do see a lot of scope for a Linux vendor such as Red
Hat to come up with hardware specifications for
recycled computers. The core of Linux has a very small
footprint when compared with Windows 9x+. Companies
such as Red Hat already have Hardware Compatibility
lists that detail the compatability status of hundreds
of components. Best of all, Linux has a very small
footprint ... about 1/3 of the students in my intro to
programming class have gotten old computers and put
Linux on them. However, in many cases, the hardware
needed to be tweaked.

Here are a couple of issues though:

1) Computer hardware, and especially old hardware, is
notoriously difficult to integrate. This is from my
experience doing hardware integration at Nortel ...
sometimes different revisions from the same vendors
did not interoperate (imagine this happening with your
RAM chips!). As such, any standard is probably going
to be a high level specification and the whole process
is unlikely to become totally seamless. However, much
of the latest hardware has plug&play capability, which
allows the computer to detect and try to automatically
configure the component. Thus, the future for this
endeavor looks bright.

2) With the (almost) total penetration of the North
American operating system space by Windows, I am very
concerned about providing Unix derivatives to the rest
of the world. These OS'es work really well if you know
exactly what you are doing. The GUI interfaces with
Linux usually require more resources so may not
applicable for very old systems. There is a potential
solution to this problem though ... there is software
that lets you run most Windows applications on Linux.
I have not used it myself so I am not sure how good it
is but it can only get better as we move forward.
Comments?

3) I was recently installing Windows 2000 and Red Hat
7.3 for a friend. We were amazed at how seamless the
Red Hat installation went. It detected and configured
almost every single device automatically. The overall
installation process was a treat. Windows 2000 was
horrible in this respect. This isn't a fair comparison
because Windows 9x or XP have much easier installation
processes than Windows 2000. However, it is important
to note that many Linux distributions have progressed
to the point where the OS is as easy to work with as
Windows.

4) I am a real fan of Internet email. It gives you the
ability to have an unlimited number of accounts, check
your email from anywhere in the world, etc. Best of
all, it is free. I do see the problem you point out
though about the email address looking unprofessional.
The solution is easy but costly ... get a domain name
and forward all incoming email to your Internet email
account. The expenses pile up because you need to keep
your domain registration current as well as get
hosting from an ISP. It probably comes to about $50 a
year. If you are not picky about the email address,
there are cheaper options.

Regards,
Iqbal

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