Dual instancing one pc?

[SilthDraeth]

Hey, I hope the title isn't to confusing.

I want to build a pc for my kids shortly, and I have two kids. I want to just have one pc, since they mostly just watch youtube videos of minecraft and play minecraft.

So is this something simple that I can do? Two monitors, two mice, two keyboards, but have them each have their own log on to the same pc, and both be able to run web browser etc.

Sort of like how multiple users can remote desktop into a server...

So once again, simple, or do I need to buy terminals or something?

 

[Puppies04]

As far as i am aware this isnt possible. I do not see how you could have 2 independant mice and keyboards running on 1 machine even if you had 2 operating systems running. That said there might be a way round the problem that i am not aware of....

 

[DaveSimmons]

What you want to do is normally done with specialized hardware and software that costs more than low-end PCs, the savings come from easier management in corporate and campus PC lab settings.

You can find low-end laptops for as little as $300 new (single-core Celeron, 2 GB) or under $400 with dual-core and 4 GB.

An AMD E-350 processor laptop (under $400) would also let them do some very low-end 3D gaming.

Another option (for better build quality) is buying off-lease Dell business laptops from http://www.dfsdirectsales.com/

 

[VirtualLarry]

You would think that MS would jump on something like this, since today's PCs are easily fast enough to support two, or even more users. But in fact they frown upon solutions that would allow this. They want to sell a Windows license to every user, with every user with their own PC.

Jetway had some motherboards that supported a hardware/software solution that claimed to be able to do this with XP, called "MagicTwin", but has since disappeared. There is no current solution to do this, based on commodity hardware, on the market.

Edit: One possibility is a DFI "Hybrid" motherboard, which were a combination of a S775 X48 motherboard, and an Atom motherboard, both systems on one board, allowing use as two seperate computers, or as a combined computer with integrated KVM.

They were a bit expensive though.

 

[mvbighead]

Definitely looking at two separate systems. Whether laptops, or full systems.

The current shell shocker x 2 would likely suit your needs. Looks like Minecraft works with Linux, so you could avoid OS costs by going with Ubuntu or other.

Laptops may also be a good idea as others have suggested.

 

[Puppies04]

Personally i would buy 2 cheap desktops, running minecraft multiplayer on a base level laptop can get very choppy, the money would be better spent and the systems would last longer/be cheaper too upgrade

 

[thefreeaccount]

You can do this a couple of ways:
* Microsoft Multipoint Server: pretty much plug n play

* MS Server 2003/2008 + terminal services + some old thin clients from ebay: hard to set up, main advantage is very fast / very resource efficient and support for GPU acceleration of hosts.

* VMWare ESXi / MS Hyper-V server + 2x Windows 7 guests + some old thin clients from ebay: the cheapest and most flexible option. You could easily, for example, run a storage/media server on the same box just by adding another VM.

Why would you want to put them on one box instead of two? It's easier to monitor / control what they do, you can give them better hardware with some redundancy, and general support/maintenance (spyware removal, backup, etc) will require less time. If you buy a decent machine, you could easily have one box serving the whole house + virtual desktops you can access from anywhere outside.

 

[Puppies04]

What would any of those options cost compared to 2 basic desktops? By the time you have upped the hardware to handle virtual machines and bought the software would it be cost effective

also this ("you could easily have one box serving the whole house + virtual desktops you can access from anywhere outside")

doesn't apply to this

("I want to build a pc for my kids shortly, and I have two kids. I want to just have one pc, since they mostly just watch youtube videos of minecraft and play minecraft.")

 

[mfenn]

* MS Server 2003/2008 + terminal services + some old thin clients from ebay: hard to set up, main advantage is very fast / very resource efficient and support for GPU acceleration of hosts.

Yeah, no. Sure, it's technically doable, but it isn't going to be "very fast" unless you throw 2008 R2 + HyperV + Win7 guests into the mix.

 

[mfenn]

("I want to build a pc for my kids shortly, and I have two kids. I want to just have one pc, since they mostly just watch youtube videos of minecraft and play minecraft.")

Ding ding ding. Winner winner. Two cheap desktops with Windows 7 licenses would be $600 total from the Dell outlet. That won't even cover the software licensing costs of thefreeaccount's suggestions unless you have a peg leg.

 

[BoT]

win7 already has a vm that you could RDP into but gaming in RDP if possible, won't be great but you would technically only need one lic.
i also think two el-cheapo boxes would serve you better

 

[boran]

do not forget that minecraft is openGL and openGL over RDP is as far as I know not very feasable.

I would get two basic desktops. The advantage over laptops is that later on you can change the GFX card (most processors in a modern dell will last a long time and will not be a limiting factor very soon)