[K12OSN] Outdoor Thin Client (and possibly wireless)

[Rob Owens]

I "weatherized" a set of indoor speakers by covering
up the bass ports with fiberglass windows screen, in
order to keep out bugs and birds when I mounted the
speakers under my deck.  I used silicone to adhere it
to the speaker, and I used fiberglass only because it
was available in black to match the speaker cabinet. 
Anyway, you should probably do something similar for
your outdoor thin client.  

If it's going to be in a shed-like enclosure, you
probably don't need to do anything else.  Make sure
there's plenty of ventilation, though, especially if
you're using a CRT monitor.

Angus mentioned MythTV.  I use MythTV and it really is
great.  I think it might be overkill for your outdoor
machine, though.  You can set up a computer with a
remote control to control xmms (and I imagine you can
do it on a thin client as well).  

I have a similar setup as you in my home.  Thin
clients everywhere, primarily for music.  One cool
trick for parties is you can set up a streaming music
server and have each client play the same streaming
playlist.  This gives you the same "soundtrack" in
every room of your house (you do have a thin client in
every room, don't you?  doesn't everybody?)

-Rob

--- Carl Keil <carl at snarlnet.com> wrote:

> Hi Folks,
> 
> 2 Possibly related questions.
> 
> Preamble:  The reason I installed a K12ltsp server
> in my house was so 
> that when the time came I could plop a $0-$50
> computer anywhere in the 
> house and have a decent workstation.  My kids use
> the one in the living 
> room and I use it and the one in the kitchen to play
> music via mp3's.  I 
> also use the clients to surf the web and check
> email, etc.  I am 
> planning on deploying thin clients in the kids'
> rooms when they ask for 
> them. 
> 
> Anyway, with the nice whether I'm suddenly struck
> with the overpowering 
> urge to put a client out in the backyard - mainly
> for tunes while I'm 
> gardening, cooking, entertaining and hanging out.  I
> want it to be a 
> permanent installation with an amp and speakers. 
> What are the pitfalls 
> of doing this?  I have no budget for the project,
> but I was going to try 
> to get a cheap cabinet or something (and
> weatherproof it to the best of 
> my ability) to serve as a "shed" for it.  But it
> can't have a flat panel 
> or nice cpu, or be a laptop.  Does anyone have any
> advice for somebody 
> about to attempt such a thing?  ("Don't."  Perhaps) 
> I don't want to 
> electrocute anyone, start a fire or hurt my network,
> etc.  There's 
> already GFCI electrical outlet right where I want to
> put it.
> 
> The second question is, does anyone know when fedora
> (and therefore 
> k12ltsp ) is going to support "G" wireless cards?  I
> installed Fedora 
> via my trusty K12ltsp 4.4.2 disks on a friends
> laptop, but now we're 
> finding it impossible to get wifi working.  I even
> tried the ndis  
> (IIRC) wrapper but I couldn't find the kernel source
> in the install to 
> recompile it.  (Probably a sign from the
> scandanavian gods that I 
> shouldn't attempt such a thing.)
> 
> I'm also wondering if a wireless "G" thin client is
> possible, therefore 
> simplifying the outdoor scenario. 
> 
> Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> ck
> 
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