[geeks] Help for a friend (suggestions, not $ ;^)

[Lionel Peterson]

Hello all,

A friend of mine is putting together a proposal to host either a
session or forum on "Using Mainstream Unix at home", and I was
wondering if anyone here had any additional thoughts for him to
consider. Currently the list is as follows (from memory):

Why run Unix at home?
 - Career training
 - Use what you know?
 - Low-cost/free hardware
 - Stability/reliability/etc.

Typical hardware for home use
 - New vs. Used vs. Free
 - Typical home hardware
    - minimal system suggestions for "plesant" experience
    - expected prices for systems
 - using FCC Class "A" hardware at home
 - environmental concerns (noise, power, size)
 - Cost vs. performance

Applications:
 - Web/Email applications
 - Personal file/MP3/WWW server
 - Office Automation (word processing, spreadsheet, DB, etc.)
 - Personal Applications (Quicken, maillist, etc.)
 - Digital Photography
    - unload pictures
    - maipulate photos (Photoshop, GIMP, etc.)
 - Games
    - Arcade
    - Simulations (of real "card" or "dice" games)
    - First-person Shooting (Doom, Quake, etc.)
    - Other

Harware limitations
 - MHz vs. GHz (how can a 500 MHz CPU best a 2 GHz CPU?)
 - Networking (in a home Cable/DSL or dial-up scenario)
 - Wireless support (or lack there of)
 - portable solutions (thanks to Tadpole, others)
 - Printers (no USB, Postscript, etc.)
 - Monitors
    - Maintaining older monitors - worth it?
    - Using new SVGA monitors (tube & Flat screen)

Software limitations
 - Securing legal OS for use
    - Hobbyist programs (and their limitations)
    - License transfer with H/W?
    - SMP support
 - Freeware availability
    - Tar Ball vs. compiled binary
    - depth of offerings

The Little Old Lady test
 - What would a little old lady need to use Unix at home?

What my friend is looking for right now is any additional topics/areas
that you think would round-out this presentation. He is not looking for
details/suggestion on websites, hardware sources, etc. He needs to get
the proposal in to Usenix tonight/tomorrow, but the talk isn't until
the fall... Any topics/ideas you think should be added?

The idea is to present a "fourth option" to home users (the other three
choices are anything MS, Mac, and Linux) - the point of the talk is to
consider/praise Unix, not tear into MS, Mac, Linux environments.

Thanks in advance, my friend & I appreciate it!
 

=====
Lionel

"Nothing would please me more than being able to hire ten
programmers and deluge the hobby market with good software"
Bill Gates, in "An OpenLetter to Hobbyists" dated February 3, 1976
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