Taking fit-pc 2 to africa

[davey_b]

I'm a computing teacher in a school and we have a link with a school in Burkina Faso (west africa). We go out each summer with some students from our school and do work out there. One of the things we did last summer was connect up the school's old PC's to the Internet (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8255811.stm).

I'm just looking at helping them get some new machines and the Fit PC 2 looks like a good option and I just wanted peoples thoughts on it. We would take about 15 out with us and we would just put them in our luggage as there are about 15 of us going. I have some questions:

1. They have CRT monitors out there already but am I right in thinking that we would need to get them LCD monitors as CRT wouldn't work?

2. How would the machines cope with the heat (about 35oC - 45 oC)?

3. There is also the dust. Am I right in thinking the machines are fanless? If so reckon that might be a good thing for not sucking in dust.

4. I would like to get a UPS for the room as they have regular powercuts. Any thoughts on one that would be appropriate for 15 fit PC 2's and screens etc?

5. Any thoughts on funding or help with cost of machines for this sort of thing would also be appreciated.

Any other thoughts or ideas would be good.

Cheers

Dave

[irads]

1. They have CRT monitors out there already but am I right in thinking that we would need to get them LCD monitors as CRT wouldn't work?

LCD is best, but you may also consider an adapter like HDFury.

2. How would the machines cope with the heat (about 35oC - 45 oC)?

45C ambient may be pushing the envelope on hard disk temp. You may opt for SSD, in that case you will have no reliability issue.

3. There is also the dust. Am I right in thinking the machines are fanless? If so reckon that might be a good thing for not sucking in dust.

fit-PC2 is fanless. Dust would not be a problem.

4. I would like to get a UPS for the room as they have regular powercuts. Any thoughts on one that would be appropriate for 15 fit PC 2's and screens etc?

One UPS can easily drive 15 fit-PC2 - that would take just about 100W
Driving 15 displays would take much more power.

5. Any thoughts on funding or help with cost of machines for this sort of thing would also be appreciated.

I suggest going with fit-PC2 Value which is the most cost effective option and performs well for the intended educational and web browsing purposes.

[davey_b]

What is the situation with SSD? Is that just an SD memory card that you add in?

Thanks

Dave

[AoRaToS]

SSD is for storage, like the Hard Disk only it uses flash memory and no moving parts so it doesn't generate as much heat, it's completely silent, it has no mechanical parts and will be better for your temperature situation, it'll also reduce energy requirements for each fit-PC2, so you might end up using ~5Watt instead of ~7Watt... so instead of ~100Watt for all 15 you get down to ~75.

A 15" LCD will burn ~25Watt of course that depends on the model, a NEC one I saw uses 21W, you should research that. I think the ft-PC2 is ideal for what you want it!

Let's say each LCD uses 40Watt (not being strict to the ~25W)
15x40 = 600
15*5 = 75
a 750Watt UPS would be fine I suppose also having in mind 40Watt per monitor might be much (it's probably less). Also keep in mind that, if let's say you find out you use 650Watt, buy a larger UPS as they aren't always able to handle it, so even if the 15 fit-PC2 use 75 with SSD you count 100Watt from the UPS just to be sure.
(Depends also on the UPS and how good it is and if it can really support 750)

You can even use 2 UPS, one for the monitors and one for the fit-PC2's (smaller one) since I don't think the monitors would get damaged by a power cut, it's more about your PC and data..

Let us know what you did and what monitors you choose in the end...This is interesting

[davey_b]

Thanks for the info. Glad you think it's exciting too. It's great to go out there and be of some assistance. I'm really passionate about the computer side of things for them out there. Giving them access to the Internet can quite literally change lives. It can open up all the knowledge and information that is on the Internet, allow them to trade in goods and services that they would not otherwise be able to do and just open the world up to them.

We can source some goods out there for about the same price as you can get them in the UK so I could get LCD monitors out there. But think we would just take the Fit PC's out with us. Also might just try and get a UPS out there, or get it shipped there as think it might take ALL of someone's luggage allowance!

So with the SD card you just slot it into the reader and that's it? What is the biggest size it will take? I also have a slight concern that it might end up in someone's pocket. That might just be the Scottish teacher in me but is there anyway of securing it in there? Would all the OS and applications etc. just go on that? I think we would image them before we went out with Linux and open office on them.

Thanks for your help on this one guys.

Dave

PS here's another couple of news article about the trip, 2nd one has a picture of when we got the computers connected to the Internet:

http://www.hamiltonadvertiser.co.uk/new ... -24765645/

http://www.hamiltoncollege.co.uk/news?news_id=344

[AoRaToS]

SD is not the same as SSD, SD as you already know is the card that goes in the specified slot (mini-SD in fit-PC2), SSD is usually the size of any normal hard disk and goes inside, it needs to have a SATA connector for fit-PC2, they have plenty of sizes but I'd suggest something around 32GB, above that the prices are not exactly affordable (for most people at least).
a 32GB SSD would cost about 100-150 USD maybe even more
a 64GB SSD would cost about 200-250 USD and even more in some cases
They are reliable but expensive at the moment...

It does drive the total cost up significantly...
With a bit of funding it may be ok, since it's the temperature that's the problem and not that you want "fancy speed". It doesn't take a genius to understand that projects like this need AND have to be funded and that they make the world a better place for allot of people, opening up many kinds of opportunities for students (and not only)...

You can check here about what SSD is:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid-state_drive

a better picture here in this article...

http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/20 ... eview.html

There is a connection between SD and SSD with the product below, this is a nice item I have but haven't used it yet:

http://www.geekstuff4u.com/peripheral/s ... -9000.html

This item has 6 slots for SD (SDHC which are newer, with more capacity and faster) cards, you can use all 6 if you want but you an also use just 1. So buying one of these would cost 70USD + a 32GB SDHC card from ebay 35USD and you have a 32GB SATA SSD with ~100 USD with potential to add more memory in the future. (that requires making a RAID of the SD cards and you need to reinstall OS and stuff I think)
(no shipping for the CR-9000 included, the SD is shipped free)

[prpixel]

Don't confuse SD with SSD. SSD drives mount in the internal 2.5" hard drive bay. In the states, 30GB or 32GB drives can be had for around $100. The advantages of SSD drives are no moving parts, very fast, greater tolerances to heat, and in most cases less power draw. The disadvantage is they are expensive. A 500GB 2.5" drive can be had for $90US, a 250GB SSD is about $700.