Better computer for brownfield situation
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@Dashrender said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
The AD is a mess, so here's a dedicated thread to a very specific situation, I might make a few of these.
Current scenario:
9 Windows PC
1 Fedora server - running pharmacy software and nothing else.This is the ENTIRE environment? 10 total machines, 1:9?
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@Obsolesce said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@IRJ said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@Dashrender said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@IRJ said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
Moving everything to OneDrive would essentially meet all your goals
Yes and no - today, there is no logging in and out of the computers. Everyone just uses the same logon.
Going to OD would require people to log in and out of OD at a minimum likely several times a day. Frankly that's so much frustration that I would think giving everyone a laptop would be better - here's your one device, take it with you.
But that doesn't work for the two POS terminals (which are included in the 9) where they do treat those terminals just like normal windows machines and run other things besides POS on them. So I would assume this would likely lead to needing more computers, so the POS can be dedicated POS systems.
Yes POS should be dedicated of course.
Yeah I think everyone having a laptop would be the most reasonable for small environment
Even in large environments. I haven't used a desktop for years. There's just no need except for dedicated stations or kiosks. With the tech now adays, there's no need to keep devices on-prem to have 100% oversight of them, that can happen from anywhere now.
of course that's true - but damn, even a 15" display is tiny! I love my desktop with 2 24" displays and a full sized keyboard.
I recently setup a Manager and her assistant with a 15" laptop - USB C dock, 2 22" monitors/keyboard and mouse - they use the desktop mode 95% of the time or more.
This setup cost nearly $2000, a desktop would have cost more like $1400, possibly less.
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@Dashrender said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
of course that's true - but damn, even a 15" display is tiny! I love my desktop with 2 24" displays and a full sized keyboard.
You don't need a desktop to use monitors.... I always have dual big monitors where I work.
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@scottalanmiller said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@Dashrender said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
The AD is a mess, so here's a dedicated thread to a very specific situation, I might make a few of these.
Current scenario:
9 Windows PC
1 Fedora server - running pharmacy software and nothing else.This is the ENTIRE environment? 10 total machines, 1:9?
yep. Now everyone has phones, they all have teams on those phones, the two owners have a laptop at home, but they don't come into the office... though are used for remote access.
Edit - I didn't mention printers - that's also on the network, but I'm pretty sure that's all.
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@Obsolesce said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@Dashrender said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
of course that's true - but damn, even a 15" display is tiny! I love my desktop with 2 24" displays and a full sized keyboard.
You don't need a desktop to use monitors.... I always have dual big monitors where I work.
For a 100K+/yr employee, hell for a $60K+/yr employee it's likely worth setting up the expense of a USB dock/nice laptop/dual monitors... but for a $25K/yr employee.. become borderline (at least that's the feeling I'm getting).
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@Dashrender said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
$25K/yr employee.. become borderline (at least that's the feeling I'm getting).
Chromebook, managed through Google Enterprise.
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@Dashrender said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@Obsolesce said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@Dashrender said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
of course that's true - but damn, even a 15" display is tiny! I love my desktop with 2 24" displays and a full sized keyboard.
You don't need a desktop to use monitors.... I always have dual big monitors where I work.
For a 100K+/yr employee, hell for a $60K+/yr employee it's likely worth setting up the expense of a USB dock/nice laptop/dual monitors... but for a $25K/yr employee.. become borderline (at least that's the feeling I'm getting).
I'd say it is worth it for any employee whose butt is worth putting in a seat. If they aren't worth a good working environment, they aren't worth employing. At any price.
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@Dashrender said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@IRJ said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
And licensing
What licensing? the server is Fedora.
Even cheaper to host then
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@scottalanmiller said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@Dashrender said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@Obsolesce said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@Dashrender said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
of course that's true - but damn, even a 15" display is tiny! I love my desktop with 2 24" displays and a full sized keyboard.
You don't need a desktop to use monitors.... I always have dual big monitors where I work.
For a 100K+/yr employee, hell for a $60K+/yr employee it's likely worth setting up the expense of a USB dock/nice laptop/dual monitors... but for a $25K/yr employee.. become borderline (at least that's the feeling I'm getting).
I'd say it is worth it for any employee whose butt is worth putting in a seat. If they aren't worth a good working environment, they aren't worth employing. At any price.
You see - I'm more in this camp. But I also don't control the checkbook.
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@Dashrender said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@Obsolesce said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@IRJ said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@Dashrender said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@IRJ said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
Moving everything to OneDrive would essentially meet all your goals
Yes and no - today, there is no logging in and out of the computers. Everyone just uses the same logon.
Going to OD would require people to log in and out of OD at a minimum likely several times a day. Frankly that's so much frustration that I would think giving everyone a laptop would be better - here's your one device, take it with you.
But that doesn't work for the two POS terminals (which are included in the 9) where they do treat those terminals just like normal windows machines and run other things besides POS on them. So I would assume this would likely lead to needing more computers, so the POS can be dedicated POS systems.
Yes POS should be dedicated of course.
Yeah I think everyone having a laptop would be the most reasonable for small environment
Even in large environments. I haven't used a desktop for years. There's just no need except for dedicated stations or kiosks. With the tech now adays, there's no need to keep devices on-prem to have 100% oversight of them, that can happen from anywhere now.
of course that's true - but damn, even a 15" display is tiny! I love my desktop with 2 24" displays and a full sized keyboard.
I recently setup a Manager and her assistant with a 15" laptop - USB C dock, 2 22" monitors/keyboard and mouse - they use the desktop mode 95% of the time or more.
This setup cost nearly $2000, a desktop would have cost more like $1400, possibly less.
And lasted longer, worked better.
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@scottalanmiller said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@Dashrender said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@Obsolesce said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@Dashrender said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
of course that's true - but damn, even a 15" display is tiny! I love my desktop with 2 24" displays and a full sized keyboard.
You don't need a desktop to use monitors.... I always have dual big monitors where I work.
For a 100K+/yr employee, hell for a $60K+/yr employee it's likely worth setting up the expense of a USB dock/nice laptop/dual monitors... but for a $25K/yr employee.. become borderline (at least that's the feeling I'm getting).
I'd say it is worth it for any employee whose butt is worth putting in a seat. If they aren't worth a good working environment, they aren't worth employing. At any price.
Yeah wtf does salary have to do with it? If the employee needs it to do their job and the company becomes profitable from that job, it's worth it.
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@Dashrender said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@scottalanmiller said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@Dashrender said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@Obsolesce said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@Dashrender said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
of course that's true - but damn, even a 15" display is tiny! I love my desktop with 2 24" displays and a full sized keyboard.
You don't need a desktop to use monitors.... I always have dual big monitors where I work.
For a 100K+/yr employee, hell for a $60K+/yr employee it's likely worth setting up the expense of a USB dock/nice laptop/dual monitors... but for a $25K/yr employee.. become borderline (at least that's the feeling I'm getting).
I'd say it is worth it for any employee whose butt is worth putting in a seat. If they aren't worth a good working environment, they aren't worth employing. At any price.
You see - I'm more in this camp. But I also don't control the checkbook.
No, but you can approach from the other angle. Assume they were worth hiring, then show that if they were worth hiring, it proves that it is worth making them effective.
If you do it right, telling you that they don't need a good working space will force them to announce that it was a mistake hiring them.
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@scottalanmiller said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@Dashrender said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@Obsolesce said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@IRJ said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@Dashrender said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@IRJ said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
Moving everything to OneDrive would essentially meet all your goals
Yes and no - today, there is no logging in and out of the computers. Everyone just uses the same logon.
Going to OD would require people to log in and out of OD at a minimum likely several times a day. Frankly that's so much frustration that I would think giving everyone a laptop would be better - here's your one device, take it with you.
But that doesn't work for the two POS terminals (which are included in the 9) where they do treat those terminals just like normal windows machines and run other things besides POS on them. So I would assume this would likely lead to needing more computers, so the POS can be dedicated POS systems.
Yes POS should be dedicated of course.
Yeah I think everyone having a laptop would be the most reasonable for small environment
Even in large environments. I haven't used a desktop for years. There's just no need except for dedicated stations or kiosks. With the tech now adays, there's no need to keep devices on-prem to have 100% oversight of them, that can happen from anywhere now.
of course that's true - but damn, even a 15" display is tiny! I love my desktop with 2 24" displays and a full sized keyboard.
I recently setup a Manager and her assistant with a 15" laptop - USB C dock, 2 22" monitors/keyboard and mouse - they use the desktop mode 95% of the time or more.
This setup cost nearly $2000, a desktop would have cost more like $1400, possibly less.
And lasted longer, worked better.
Not sure about that.
my first round of laptops I brought in here were HP 550's in 2008, they cost me $550/ea, we had around 50 of them... we got 8 years out of them. This more recent batch is around 5 years old now, and they are definitely not holding up quite as well - they keyboards are dying right and left - and replacements are hard to get, and the Chinese ones just suck!
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@IRJ said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@Dashrender said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@IRJ said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@Dashrender said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@IRJ said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
Moving everything to OneDrive would essentially meet all your goals
Yes and no - today, there is no logging in and out of the computers. Everyone just uses the same logon.
Going to OD would require people to log in and out of OD at a minimum likely several times a day. Frankly that's so much frustration that I would think giving everyone a laptop would be better - here's your one device, take it with you.
But that doesn't work for the two POS terminals (which are included in the 9) where they do treat those terminals just like normal windows machines and run other things besides POS on them. So I would assume this would likely lead to needing more computers, so the POS can be dedicated POS systems.
Yes POS should be dedicated of course.
Yeah I think everyone having a laptop would be the most reasonable for small environment
LOL - dedicated... their old server was installed into a workstation space - and users used it as a desktop machine as well as a server. Historically they have bought as little hardware as possible - granted, they shouldn't be just spending willy nilly, but dedicated devices doesn't seem to be something they understand.
First thing I asked does the server have any problems? answer - yes... then start by stopping using it as a workstation. They said - OK... they ordered a replacement PC and we moved the server 2 weeks later.
Why are they hosting a server with 9 employees?
For medical or medical-like practices this is common. Vetastic is building around this for system design because clinics often have to be in locations that can't depend on their Internet, but have to depend on their servers.
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@Dashrender said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@scottalanmiller said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@Dashrender said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@Obsolesce said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@IRJ said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@Dashrender said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@IRJ said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
Moving everything to OneDrive would essentially meet all your goals
Yes and no - today, there is no logging in and out of the computers. Everyone just uses the same logon.
Going to OD would require people to log in and out of OD at a minimum likely several times a day. Frankly that's so much frustration that I would think giving everyone a laptop would be better - here's your one device, take it with you.
But that doesn't work for the two POS terminals (which are included in the 9) where they do treat those terminals just like normal windows machines and run other things besides POS on them. So I would assume this would likely lead to needing more computers, so the POS can be dedicated POS systems.
Yes POS should be dedicated of course.
Yeah I think everyone having a laptop would be the most reasonable for small environment
Even in large environments. I haven't used a desktop for years. There's just no need except for dedicated stations or kiosks. With the tech now adays, there's no need to keep devices on-prem to have 100% oversight of them, that can happen from anywhere now.
of course that's true - but damn, even a 15" display is tiny! I love my desktop with 2 24" displays and a full sized keyboard.
I recently setup a Manager and her assistant with a 15" laptop - USB C dock, 2 22" monitors/keyboard and mouse - they use the desktop mode 95% of the time or more.
This setup cost nearly $2000, a desktop would have cost more like $1400, possibly less.
And lasted longer, worked better.
Not sure about that.
my first round of laptops I brought in here were HP 550's in 2008, they cost me $550/ea, we had around 50 of them... we got 8 years out of them. This more recent batch is around 5 years old now, and they are definitely not holding up quite as well - they keyboards are dying right and left - and replacements are hard to get, and the Chinese ones just suck!
How fast and efficient were they after eight years? I've got an eight year old laptop, it's great, and it just keeps trucking. But it is clearly not as fast as my desktop or I'd be using it. It's low on RAM now, the drive is small (but big enough), the battery isn't what it used to be, and the keyboard is starting to stick. Even with nothing going wrong, eight year old laptops tends to be slow enough to be causing efficiency losses. Maybe not enough to warrant complaints, but it starts to happen. And laptop monitors cause like major efficiency losses from the get go.
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@scottalanmiller said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@Dashrender said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@scottalanmiller said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@Dashrender said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@Obsolesce said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@IRJ said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@Dashrender said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
@IRJ said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
Moving everything to OneDrive would essentially meet all your goals
Yes and no - today, there is no logging in and out of the computers. Everyone just uses the same logon.
Going to OD would require people to log in and out of OD at a minimum likely several times a day. Frankly that's so much frustration that I would think giving everyone a laptop would be better - here's your one device, take it with you.
But that doesn't work for the two POS terminals (which are included in the 9) where they do treat those terminals just like normal windows machines and run other things besides POS on them. So I would assume this would likely lead to needing more computers, so the POS can be dedicated POS systems.
Yes POS should be dedicated of course.
Yeah I think everyone having a laptop would be the most reasonable for small environment
Even in large environments. I haven't used a desktop for years. There's just no need except for dedicated stations or kiosks. With the tech now adays, there's no need to keep devices on-prem to have 100% oversight of them, that can happen from anywhere now.
of course that's true - but damn, even a 15" display is tiny! I love my desktop with 2 24" displays and a full sized keyboard.
I recently setup a Manager and her assistant with a 15" laptop - USB C dock, 2 22" monitors/keyboard and mouse - they use the desktop mode 95% of the time or more.
This setup cost nearly $2000, a desktop would have cost more like $1400, possibly less.
And lasted longer, worked better.
Not sure about that.
my first round of laptops I brought in here were HP 550's in 2008, they cost me $550/ea, we had around 50 of them... we got 8 years out of them. This more recent batch is around 5 years old now, and they are definitely not holding up quite as well - they keyboards are dying right and left - and replacements are hard to get, and the Chinese ones just suck!
How fast and efficient were they after eight years? I've got an eight year old laptop, it's great, and it just keeps trucking. But it is clearly not as fast as my desktop or I'd be using it. It's low on RAM now, the drive is small (but big enough), the battery isn't what it used to be, and the keyboard is starting to stick. Even with nothing going wrong, eight year old laptops tends to be slow enough to be causing efficiency losses. Maybe not enough to warrant complaints, but it starts to happen. And laptop monitors cause like major efficiency losses from the get go.
OH, they were definitely slow - but the environment isn't/wasn't such that a fast computer would really allow more work to be done - it just allows for more slack off time.
This is the huge issue I deal with here - 8+ year old computers are definitely fast enough today to get the job done. But we could have brand spanking new i9 computers and we'd see zero additional patients, we'd do zero additional billing. Our bottle neck is the number of clinic rooms we have, the number of ORs we have, and the speed of providers (some of which see patients every 5 mins - so no, it's not like the providers are jacking around instead of seeing patients, well...).
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@IRJ said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
Moving everything to OneDrive would essentially meet all your goals
I'd like to get this back on topic.
In talking to the client I have the following information:
A generic user logs into the PC. They want this generic user to have access to the OneDrive files mostly (if not exclusively) in a read-only mode. These removes the need to track individual access for the most part. They don't care who's reading the information (not worth the hassle to gain this information)
Additionally - they would like a Policies and Procedures manual online - something that basically starts from a table of contents with links to whatever. This needs to be brain dead easy to update and add new pages onto. If editing the TOC is equally braindead simple, that's a huge bonus.
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While a few computers more or less have a single user on them, that is not the case for most computers in the office.
Everyone today use Outlook on the web to access email - and people are constantly logging each other out of email so they can log themselves in.Using OD4B definitely becomes more challenging in this setup.
For clarification sake - even though they wanted some files, etc, to be private - they've previously never had a solution for this - except for saving things inside email - i.e. they had files stored on nearly every computer separately - where ever the task for that file was accomplished - that's where the file was stored (yep, no backups).
I'm trying to come up with a solution that will provide them a little bit of security - for the files in question, while not completely clamping them down on security. (amazon password is literally written on a post-it on the wall).
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@Dashrender said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
Additionally - they would like a Policies and Procedures manual online - something that basically starts from a table of contents with links to whatever. This needs to be brain dead easy to update and add new pages onto. If editing the TOC is equally braindead simple, that's a huge bonus.
Check out confluence for this. Very affordable for a small team
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@Dashrender said in Better computer for brownfield situation:
A generic user logs into the PC. They want this generic user to have access to the OneDrive files mostly (if not exclusively) in a read-only mode. These removes the need to track individual access for the most part. They don't care who's reading the information (not worth the hassle to gain this information)
I would probably use SharePoint online for this
