1 CPU but 4 users (2005/2006)

[Moonzy]

back in 2005/2006, my school have a system where 4 students would share 1 PC

4 screens, 4 keyboard and mouse, 4 simultanous users. USB ports are shared, floppy disk drive is shared

edit: windows XP is the OS

 

what kind of VM is it?

[Applefreak]

Probably a basic VMware setup if it was Windows based. If not, probably a UNIX derivative. 

[Moonzy]

Just now, Applefreak said:

Probably a basic VMware setup if it was Windows based

running win XP

[Applefreak]

The backend would have been Windows Server 2003 then. XP was good with 1 CPU so a VM would not have been difficult to set up.

[Moonzy]

5 minutes ago, Applefreak said:

The backend would have been Windows Server 2003 then. XP was good with 1 CPU so a VM would not have been difficult to set up.

hmm... so a pentium 4 system can run 4 users on win xp?

not sure what cpu it is tbh

not sure what the hardware is entirely, including GPUs

 

curious to know if it's possible to split up a single GPU horsepower for multiple users

[Applefreak]

By 2005, the old Pentium 4 was ancient history. You had Pentium D (dual core). Also that was the the era of Core 2 Quad based systems. Workstations used dual or quad socket motherboards giving you basically up to 16 cores, however with some latency when addressing cores across the controllers (northbrigde).

[Moonzy]

2 minutes ago, Applefreak said:

By 2005, the old Pentium 4 was ancient history. You had Pentium D (dual core). Also that was the the era of Core 2 Quad based systems. Workstations used dual or quad socket motherboards giving you basically up to 16 cores, however with some latency when addressing cores across the controllers (northbrigde).

hmm... wondering if my school had the budget for dual socket boards, over 4 individual PCs

didnt C2Q came out around 2007?

 

also VM i know cant share usb devices, unless there's certain VMs that can? how would mouse and kb input be split up then?

 

how bout splitting up GPU horsepower to multiple user? or it's multi GPU?

[Applefreak]

I think you could use different controller cards for that, so basically different PCI cards for each machine. But I haven't touched an a server like that in a decade or so. I know it was possible. Also the rendering in the vm was done by the CPU, not the GPU. Good enough for a session of SimCity if I remember correctly. I have a Core 2 Quad here (Q6600) that is labeled May 2004 and a Q6700 from April 2005. Those were from HP workstation systems. I know that pre-builts got those parts earlier and many schools did to (probably advertising how great they are). I remember that my P35 chipset board in 2008 was about 128 USD and the CPU was roughly 300 USD (Xeon X3360 = Q9550). The multi-socket CPUs were quite a bit cheaper but would not run in single socket boards. My guess is a system like that, if bought retail, would have been around 2000 USD at the time. Still pretty expensive but there are always rebates for educational stuff so maybe 20 or even 40 percent less.

[Moonzy]

6 minutes ago, Applefreak said:

I think you could use different controller cards for that, so basically different PCI cards for each machine. But I haven't touched an a server like that in a decade or so. I know it was possible. Also the rendering in the vm was done by the CPU, not the GPU. Good enough for a session of SimCity if I remember correctly. I have a Core 2 Quad here (Q6600) that is labeled May 2004 and a Q6700 from April 2005. Those were from HP workstation systems. I know that pre-builts got those parts earlier and many schools did to (probably advertising how great they are). I remember that my P35 chipset board in 2008 was about 128 USD and the CPU was roughly 300 USD (Xeon X3360 = Q9550). The multi-socket CPUs were quite a bit cheaper but would not run in single socket boards. My guess is a system like that, if bought retail, would have been around 2000 USD at the time. Still pretty expensive but there are always rebates for educational stuff so maybe 20 or even 40 percent less.

hmm... was thinking if i could build a budget PC and split the hardware for multiple users to browse the internet

and even maybe light gaming if the GPU power could be split without needing individual GPU for each instance

 

guess it's still very complicated

 

as for the separate PCI cards, i remembered we used the front panel to plug in USB, the desktop was in a cupboard, and we could only access the front of it

i have could remember wrongly, though

[Applefreak]

Unless you need to use windows, maybe build a system based on a raspberry pi 3 or 4.

I have a Pi 3 running ubuntu as a print server and it is a pretty good experience. Also browsing the web, youtube etc. is running really well. Will save you a lot of money and power (also money eventually) and of course space.

 

As for gaming on windows, look for old boards with CPUs and stack them into a custom enclosure.

Basically you get an old case and cut the motherboard base where the standoffs thread into and use long threaded screws and nuts with plastic washers in between to sandwich those boards. Now you need a case, so get some plywood or whatever you prefer and build yourself a box. If using stock coolers, you should be able to keep the case reasonably sized. 

I'd recommend cutting some holes for 200 mm fans in the front and leave the back mostly open so air can easily travel across. 

If you are have more advanced tools you can make it out of aluminium but I would start with some plywood to get a good feeling for the layout and then use it as a template for a more solid build.

 

You will need a drill head for wood and metal, a hand saw or jigsaw (Dremel if you can do a straight line),

9 long threaded screws that will fit through the holes on the motherboard, 18 plastic washers and nuts (I prefer stainless steel but that is up to you).

If you can multiple cases on the cheap, maybe consider cutting out the motherboard trays with the expansion card holders to make a more stable and cleaner back for your box. That also enables you to later screw them together with the frame of your new case. 

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

this probably wasn''t using a vm setup, there are many ways to do multiple users all one one os.

 

You can use software like microsoft multippoint, or aster to run multiple sessions on one os with one gpu aswell. No need to setup any vms for this type of use case.

[jake9000]

In the biz they call this Multiseat. Ibik Aster works on modern computers, but under the XP era you were probably seeing Thinsoft BeTwin.

[Jarsky]

I highly doubt it was a VM setup. Hypervisors were mostly non existant then, the first multi-core processors commercially (other than the old Power CPU's) only came out in 2005.

It would have been some sort of virtual desktop session, or perhaps you remember incorrectly, and it was 4 terminals connecting to a terminal server like Windows Server 2003...or perhaps they did a 'hack', which you could do on Windows XP to enable terminal services. 

[NelizMastr]

On 8/19/2020 at 11:28 AM, Applefreak said:

By 2005, the old Pentium 4 was ancient history. You had Pentium D (dual core). Also that was the the era of Core 2 Quad based systems. Workstations used dual or quad socket motherboards giving you basically up to 16 cores, however with some latency when addressing cores across the controllers (northbrigde).

The Core 2 architecture didn’t produce any chips until 2006. Anything before it was Netburst still. The last P4 was released in 2006, on the Cedar Mill core, just a few months before Core 2 launched. It was by far the most common processor in computers in 2005.

 

On 8/19/2020 at 11:42 AM, Applefreak said:

have a Core 2 Quad here (Q6600) that is labeled May 2004 and a Q6700 from April 2005. Those were from HP workstation systems. I know that pre-builts got those parts earlier and many schools.

Print says nothing on Intel. Even a 2006 Pentium 4 is labeled as Intel 2001. 
 

The Core 2 Quad was released to the public, that includes OEMs, in 2007.

Core 2 Duos in 2006.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Core_2

 

On 8/19/2020 at 6:16 PM, Electronics Wizardy said:

this probably wasn''t using a vm setup, there are many ways to do multiple users all one one os.

 

You can use software like microsoft multippoint, or aster to run multiple sessions on one os with one gpu aswell. No need to setup any vms for this type of use case.

the most likely, indeed. We still manage a handful of Multipoint Services machine on Windows Server 2012. Does the job fine.