MagicJack Thin Client for My Dad!

[gergesim]

What an odd title right?

So here's the deal, my father has been looking to pick up a magicjack but doesnt know much about technology. Being his tech-savy son I've decided to try and help him out and either setup or puchase a preconfigured MagicJack Thin Client for him. Sorta as thank you gift. Now, I've got college bills racked up (most of which he helped pay for) and I was hoping to do this without spending a lot of money. I'm sure some of you on here sell preconfigured ones and I'd love to hear pricing. If it's pricey though, do any of you think you could help me find a client and set it up myself? Or reccomend a model, or a site to purchase them?

Hope its not too much to ask,
gergesim

[vnecaxa]

Most TC are sold on eBay for under $100. Some sellers only sell TC and I would check them out first. I have bought 4 TC on eBay and all are working perfectly. Choose one with at least 512 MB of memory.

[Alpman]

No, you can't simply take an out of the box low CPU powered low memory TC and just hook up your MJ and expect it to perform well. There are several things in the OS that you must configure in order to optimize performance with your MJ. Tweaking the OS and disabling unnecissary services is a must. Removal of unneeded programs will also free up memory as many of them will load at startup. But to get things running smoothly on lower CPU and memory machines with 256mb or less memory, you'll have to do a bit more work.

Lower CPU speed machines with 256mb mem can run MJ just as well if not better than many higher speed CPU machines with 512mb or even 1Gb mem if they are configured and optimized for MJ properly. And for a dedicated MJ TC, there's no reason to build them with higher specs. They will do the job very well just the way they are.

The systems I have built do just that. Yes, they will do basic browsing, email and play music just fine but will choke hard on YouTube and especially Hulu. Media Center PC's they are not, but that's what you have a Desktop or Laptop for, right? I mean the whole idea of the TC is to free up your main machine, so why would you need a TC to do all that stuff anyway???

In my experience I've had much better luck with lower speed VIA CPU's over the Transmeta CPU's at twice the speed. The Transmeta's also eat up 16mb of your memory right out of the gate for the CPU and they are not x86 native, taking many more clock cycles to perform the same work. Google Transmeta or VLWI (very long word instruction) to prove it to yourself. Those overpriced HP 57XX's may not be the best choice for the job, but they are certainly the most well documented her on this site, making it easier for the average Joe to set up.

With as little as a 400Mhz VIA CPU, 196m (256m preferred) mem and using a 4GB MicroDrive with an IDE to CF adapter instead of a DOM allows the removal of the EWF filter (this is the key to low memory performance as EWF and RAM Disk eat up nearly half of your of mem, plus it makes updates a breeze) you can have an absolute bulletproof MJ system with less fuss and maintanence. I've got over 100m of memory available with MJ running with this config and I've yet to have any out of memory errors and never had a single one crash yet, plus call quality rivals that of the ATA's.

I even have a couple 300Mhz machines with Win FLP before playing around with XPe totally stripped down strictly for MJ use running with just 128mb and they are rock solid, alhough I prefer to have a little wiggleroom and would consider these machines at an absolute bare minimum, but they do work well.

So, 512mb mem is NOT a prerequisite for a solid running TC for MJ if you know what you're doing. Just my two cents...oh, and for the record, there is absulutely no difference in USB 1.1 vs 2.0 as far as MJ is concerned, It will perform identically well in either case. So don't ever let that be a deciding factor in your TC buying decision.

BTW - My TC's of choice are in the following order:

#1 - BCM EBC-3610 SBC (Pay By Touch Terminal) - VIA EDEN 667Mhz air-cooled stable OC in BIOS to 1.0Ghz/256Mb PC133 SODIMM/4GB MicroDrive - Smallest TC I've ever seen, hidden behind the IO plate is a second LAN port and an on-board CF-II slot - read the post a couple down from here - near impossible to find now, and if you do it will be spendy

#2 - TermTek 3350 - VIA EDEN 533Mhz/256Mb PC133 DT/4GB MicroDrive - Very small sexy package, built very solid, uses an IDE to CF-I adapter that is easily modified to fit CF-II cards like the MicroDrive, PS/2 an two USB ports are on the front of the case, with no rear USB connector but it has standard 10-pin internal header for two more USB ports, one of which I mount to a PCI bracket as the PCI riser is an option, so no WiFi upgrade possible via PCI slot

3# - WYSE 3455XL,9455XL.9450XE (all same hardware) - VIA Samuel 2 533Mhz factory OC'd to 550Mhz(100Mhz X 5.5)/256Mb PC100/4GB MicroDrive/Optional PCI WiFi card - tried and true VIA EPIA 5000 ITX motherboard, laptop CD-Rom & HDD mounting provisions, all standard PC parts & header pins

#4 - Neoware CA15 - VIA Samuel 2 400Mhz/256Mb DDR2700 SODIMM/4GB MicroDrive - Great value for $$$, DDR memory helps speed things up, has mini 4-pin internal header for one more USB port which I drill a hole and run out the back of the unit as there are only two ports and they are on the front of the unit

I do not use the factory XPe images on any of these units. I have built my own custom XPe Runtime specifically with the MJ in mind and have incorporated all of the drivers for all four machines onto one image, though they do share many of the same chipsets and drivers. This makes it very simple to reimage any of these machines as I don't have to keep track of multiple versions and it's as easy as just restoring the image from a USB CD-ROM or swapping the MicroDrive if needed, another good reason for using MicroDrives, less maintanence and work for me!!

I hope that this has helped some of you, or at least opened your eyes to other TC possibilities. If you would like more information on any of these models, please PM me for details.

[vnecaxa]

you surely know your stuff! I can barely understand 20-30% of what you said. Is there like a TC for Dummies book?

[sawigg]

No, you can't simply take an out of the box low CPU powered low memory TC and just hook up your MJ and expect it to perform well. There are several things in the OS that you must configure in order to optimize performance with your MJ. Tweaking the OS and disabling unnecissary services is a must. Removal of unneeded programs will also free up memory as many of them will load at startup. But to get things running smoothly on lower CPU and memory machines with 256mb or less memory, you'll have to do a bit more work.

Lower CPU speed machines with 256mb mem can run MJ just as well if not better than many higher speed CPU machines with 512mb or even 1Gb mem if they are configured and optimized for MJ properly. And for a dedicated MJ TC, there's no reason to build them with higher specs. They will do the job very well just the way they are.

The systems I have built do just that. Yes, they will do basic browsing, email and play music just fine but will choke hard on YouTube and especially Hulu. Media Center PC's they are not, but that's what you have a Desktop or Laptop for, right? I mean the whole idea of the TC is to free up your main machine, so why would you need a TC to do all that stuff anyway???

In my experience I've had much better luck with lower speed VIA CPU's over the Transmeta CPU's at twice the speed. The Transmeta's also eat up 16mb of your memory right out of the gate for the CPU and they are not x86 native, taking many more clock cycles to perform the same work. Google Transmeta or VLWI (very long word instruction) to prove it to yourself. Those overpriced HP 57XX's may not be the best choice for the job, but they are certainly the most well documented her on this site, making it easier for the average Joe to set up.

With as little as a 400Mhz VIA CPU, 196m (256m preferred) mem and using a 4GB MicroDrive with an IDE to CF adapter instead of a DOM allows the removal of the EWF filter (this is the key to low memory performance as EWF and RAM Disk eat up nearly half of your of mem, plus it makes updates a breeze) you can have an absolute bulletproof MJ system with less fuss and maintanence. I've got over 100m of memory available with MJ running with this config and I've yet to have any out of memory errors and never had a single one crash yet, plus call quality rivals that of the ATA's.

I even have a couple 300Mhz machines with Win FLP before playing around with XPe totally stripped down strictly for MJ use running with just 128mb and they are rock solid, alhough I prefer to have a little wiggleroom and would consider these machines at an absolute bare minimum, but they do work well.

So, 512mb mem is NOT a prerequisite for a solid running TC for MJ if you know what you're doing. Just my two cents...oh, and for the record, there is absulutely no difference in USB 1.1 vs 2.0 as far as MJ is concerned, It will perform identically well in either case. So don't ever let that be a deciding factor in your TC buying decision.

BTW - My TC's of choice are in the following order:

#1 - BCM EBC-3610 SBC (Pay By Touch Terminal) - VIA EDEN 667Mhz air-cooled stable OC in BIOS to 1.0Ghz/256Mb PC133 SODIMM/4GB MicroDrive - Smallest TC I've ever seen, hidden behind the IO plate is a second LAN port and an on-board CF-II slot - read the post a couple down from here - near impossible to find now, and if you do it will be spendy

#2 - TermTek 3350 - VIA EDEN 533Mhz/256Mb PC133 DT/4GB MicroDrive - Very small sexy package, built very solid, uses an IDE to CF-I adapter that is easily modified to fit CF-II cards like the MicroDrive, PS/2 an two USB ports are on the front of the case, with no rear USB connector but it has standard 10-pin internal header for two more USB ports, one of which I mount to a PCI bracket as the PCI riser is an option, so no WiFi upgrade possible via PCI slot

3# - WYSE 3455XL,9455XL.9450XE (all same hardware) - VIA Samuel 2 533Mhz factory OC'd to 550Mhz(100Mhz X 5.5)/256Mb PC100/4GB MicroDrive/Optional PCI WiFi card - tried and true VIA EPIA 5000 ITX motherboard, laptop CD-Rom & HDD mounting provisions, all standard PC parts & header pins

#4 - Neoware CA15 - VIA Samuel 2 400Mhz/256Mb DDR2700 SODIMM/4GB MicroDrive - Great value for $$$, DDR memory helps speed things up, has mini 4-pin internal header for one more USB port which I drill a hole and run out the back of the unit as there are only two ports and they are on the front of the unit

I do not use the factory XPe images on any of these units. I have built my own custom XPe Runtime specifically with the MJ in mind and have incorporated all of the drivers for all four machines onto one image, though they do share many of the same chipsets and drivers. This makes it very simple to reimage any of these machines as I don't have to keep track of multiple versions and it's as easy as just restoring the image from a USB CD-ROM or swapping the MicroDrive if needed, another good reason for using MicroDrives, less maintanence and work for me!!

I hope that this has helped some of you, or at least opened your eyes to other TC possibilities. If you would like more information on any of these models, please PM me for details.

[Alpman]

sawigg - you need to repost your question about the 9450 before I can help you. You replied in the subject area. You need to reply in the Message body area. Or better yet, start a new thread altogether so we don't hijack this one.

[tony]

do any of you think you could help me find a client and set it up myself? Or reccomend a model, or a site to purchase them?
gergesim

Alpman knows his stuff. Another alternative, and not too pricey is to pick up an HP T5700 thin client. If you are lucky, you can get one for about $75-$100 USD on ebay. Check out the great step by step instructions at http://www.phoneservicesupport.com/dumm ... t3605.html, these instructions are what got me setup. The T5700 with 512/512 MB RAM and ROM storage (your harddrive) will do fine. And it's stable, low power consumption, and your Dad can't (easily) mess up the configuration. If it does get messed up, you just turn it off and back on and it reboots to the way you set it up. And you can manage it by remote control over the Internet using the built in TeamViewer remote control software or install something like RealVNC.

These thin clients run a special version of Windows XP and the nice thing is HP still supports the older models, you can download the WinXP image to setup your thin client.

[Alpman]

You could also check ebay for the models I've mentioned above. You can pick them up already pre configured for under $60 shipped, alot less than the overpriced 57XX's and they work just as good.

[sawigg]

sawigg - you need to repost your question about the 9450 before I can help you. You replied in the subject area. You need to reply in the Message body area. Or better yet, start a new thread altogether so we don't hijack this one.

Sorry about this, I am posting on:Wyse winterm model 9450SE
I need you help, thank you

[ThisIsMyUserName]

while I was at RadioShack, I noticed that they dropped carrying MagicJack in exchange for Ooma. I never heard of this VoIP provider, but it seems pretty cool. No monthly/annual phone bill at all, just an initial upfront purchase. No need to keep the computer on too...just plug into the router, so no need for a ThinClient/ATA. Plus they have number porting as well, not something we have to wait "soon" for with a MJ. The info says that the device reserves the bandwith it needs on your ethernet, so the voice quality is supposed to be good even during heavy internet traffic times. Has anybody out there tried Ooma yet? I'll probably use both devices for a side-by-side comparison.

[onlyme]

I have ooma, I have better luck with MJ, they werent able to port my ATT number and mine is real choppy from time to time, ooma tech support just kinda gave up on me. I still haul it out from time to time in hopes that its no longer choppy. So far at almost a year I have had very few problems with MJ. Some have reported good luck with ooma, I wish I were one of them...

[ThisIsMyUserName]

www.tk6000.com