6 Nov
2007
6 Nov
'07
5:12 a.m.
On Sun, Nov 04, 2007 at 05:40:25PM -0500, Dave McGuire wrote:
On Nov 4, 2007, at 4:59 PM, Tony Duell wrote:
For me, the reason is simple. Terminal emulators are too damn
much trouble...emulation problems, key mapping, etc. I've used
pretty much all of them over the years, I think...the best one I've
used was SmarTerm 240, and even that is far from perfect. Sometimes
what one really needs is an APPLIANCE...not an emulation of said
appliance built upon an unstable and problematic platform.
Further...A VT320 terminal pulls less than half an ampere at 120V,
60 Watts? That is _easy_ to beat with current hardware.
I
don't understand why someone would want to spend 10x more
tima and money on a one-purpose device, when they can get
everything they want and more off a cheap PC.
Probably for the saem reason that some of us run classic computers in
preference to PCs... and is available for use within about fifteen seconds
of
powerup...can anyone say either of those things for a PC running
terminal emulation software?
Yes.
If all you want/need is terminal emulation, grab an not too recent
laptop. My Thinkpad T43p here (admittedly quite new) drops down below
18 watts of power consumption for doing stuff like reading
documentation (i.e. close to no load on the system). It does take longer
to boot - about 50 seconds from power button press to the login screen,
but that is because
- the BIOS alone takes more than 30 seconds for POST alone
- it is setup with a current Linux distribution that boots up to
full graphical login screen
The system load time (time spent between boot loader coming and being
able to log in) could be cut down significantly by striping down the
system just to what's needed for the job. Wen once dropped system load
time for a small Linux server down to about 4 seconds by replacing the
init system with two small shell scripts that didn't do much ;-)
Get an older 486 class laptop, that probably boots faster (less
integrated hardware to initialize, less memory to count ...) and uses
even less power. It will also be much more easy to carry around than
a VT320 ;-)
Or get an HP200LX:
- lives almost forever on two AA cells
- instant on
- reboots within a few seconds (rarely needed)
- integrated terminal program (not that good, but I found it sufficient
for most purposes)
- small small handheld with clamshell formfactor and keyboard
- can be carried around in your jacket pocket
- does full 80x25 text display
- disadvantage: text on the display may be hard to read (due to size)
for those with less than eagle-perfect eyes
Regards,
Alex.
--
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and
looks like work." -- Thomas A. Edison