[K12OSN] Life Expectancy of Riverdale Labs

[Shawn Powers]

Paul Nelson, or anyone that is involved at Riverdale,

I read that the Riverdale HS lab went online September of 2002.  (That 
particular school has a great writeup on k12ltsp.org on 
how/when/why/etc)  I'm curious how the hardware has been faring now that 
almost 2 school years have gone by...

I guess I ask, because I'm not sure how to properly figure TCO with a 
k12ltsp lab...  Theoretically, the thin clients will last forever.  I 
have circa 1993 machines running just fine as thin clients, so the 
"forever" at least has a decade of age to back it.

How has the school transitioned through the versions of K12LTSP?  I 
don't remember what version was out in Sept 2002, but I'm sure it was no 
newer than version 2.  Are you running version 4.0.1 on the same 
hardware?  How does it compare performance-wise?

Have you noticed less "maintenance" required for thin clients than 
regular computers?  (no hard drives to fail, although that's not 
terribly common even in a "regular" lab)

Do you have any comparative energy savings from using the thin clients 
and flat screens?  I know they use less energy, but also you probably 
don't need to air-condition the labs either...  I know that figure isn't 
specific to just you, and I could probably figure out the costs that it 
would save me -- but I'm trying to fill in any questions when I use you 
as a big example case. :)

Thanks a million,
-Shawn


-- 
Shawn Powers
Technology Director
Inland Lakes Schools
PHN: 231-238-6868 x9174
FAX: 509-356-7024
spowers at inlandlakes.org
http://techcorner.inlandlakes.org