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Computer Market / Buy Your HP Or Dell Wyse Thin Clients by moscovite: 1:38pm On Jan 17, 2016
We have a considerable stock of HP and Dell Wyse thin Clients.

You can deploy thin client to Schools, CBT Centre, Business Centres and Cybercafes,

We also sell on Hire Purchase Terms.

Call 08052633663 for further Enquiry.
Computer Market / Re: Get Thin Clients On Credit(hire Purchase/lease). by moscovite: 1:27pm On Jan 17, 2016
Thin Clients available on Hire Purchase Terms.
Terms are now slightly different from what was before.

You can pay as low as 1,000 naira per month per thin client

Call 08052633663 for enquiries
Computers / Re: I Need Fairly Used HP Thin Client by moscovite: 2:46pm On Jan 14, 2016
Do you still need thin Clients?. How many pieces.
Call 08052633663
Education / Re: Photo: See How A Mathematician Proved 0 Divided By 0 Equals 2 by moscovite: 11:18am On May 10, 2015
Obviously most of these guys are secondary level mathematician. 0/0 is an indeterminable value in mathematics. Indeterminable means it can be anything.
If you take two values x^3/x and x/x^3 when x=0 they should both be 0/0. If you move x towards 0 ( differentiation) the first one moves to 0 while the second one goes to infinity. In this guys rigmarole he has made it 2 (and he is correct). His working is flawless technically but he hasn't proven anything. I can make it 3 or 10 or 100. That is why its indeterminable. If you did some higher maths like differential equations you will understand better. So his workings are correct but he hasn't done anything new

1 Like

Computers / Re: Cyber Cafes With thin Client Technology In Operation. by moscovite: 12:44am On Oct 08, 2013
HP with zero client?! Can you tell me the type and model. I need to look that up. I haven't come across an old version Zero Client HP terminal. I even doubt they ever produced a dumb terminal. Wyse do. You still didn't say what OS your Sundec runs or it has no thin OS!
pmictltd: Ofcus I have 20 units of such non-zero terminal which i have given 10 to my brother at Ijebu Ode and 6 to sold six to a friend.
While i retain 4 in my cyber cafe.

Its an Hp Thin Client, its perfect when you are working on it. It connects via RDP, it has its own OS.
But, I still feel that i have not gotten what i want when using it on Generator or especially my Inverter. Because its power consumption is 40 watts compare to sunde thin client or thin station thin client which is just 5 watts.

My concern and goal is reduce cost of providing internet service and make more profit.
And that is why i prefer sunde thin client. It connects direct to the server and loads windows automatically without having to press connect everyday, thin station also connects directly, but not all thin station products and also not all thin station support win 7 except xp.

My experience with Sunde Thin Client always makes me want to go for it anytime.
I have sold over 500 sunde thin client since i came across it. And all my client enjoy using it.

Mr. Moscovite, can you tell me which type of thin client you use or recommend to your clients?
Computers / Re: Cyber Cafes With thin Client Technology In Operation. by moscovite: 12:30am On Oct 08, 2013
Are you kidding me PM!! Proprietary Thin Clients with 40W power consumption!!. Can you point to the proprietors website where those features are written. You see we differ in one way. You are trying to sell one particular thin client that you probably have a distributorship for. So you have to paint it Gold even if it's not. I don't have that problem. I am looking for the best solutions for a cafe. So my exploration takes me to so many thin clients and so far I have found the ones I mention most suitable for this business, having weighed all the options including power consumption etc. Of course if the thin clients consume up to 15-20 Watts any zero client will become better. But there is no thin client that consumes up to 15w. If it does it simply has moved to the fat-client league. Indeed a 40W consuming system is already a laptop without the screen. A laptop is not a thin client!!!. If you look at some popular HP laptops with Pentium D or dual core processors they use 65W power adapters. This means their power consumption can't be more than 50-55W. If you subtract the screen consumption then you have less than a 40w consuming system. This definitely isn't a thin client. There are thin clients that consume up to 12W or even slightly more but even at that your comparison is faulty. You need to compare your Sundae with other similar thin clients. You can't compare a Volkswagen Golf to a Toyota Prado Jeep. A Golf should be compared to a Yaris or Corrolla. The truth is that proprietary thin clients in the same category with your Sundec consume the same 5w. You saw that i highlited that much. Logically would it make sense for Toyota to build a Yaris or Corrola that consumes fuel like a Prado. Doesn't make much sense. That is exactly what it is. Such does not exist. It will consume about the same as the Golf. Same with thin clients.
So to answer your questions on what solution I give my customer. I give them the latest thin client that solves there problem. Right now I think older version of proprietary thin clients such as Wyse, HP, Sun, Dell, Neoware are robust and do better than the Chinese ones, especially for Cafes. In any case the Chinese thin clients you see around nowadays are imitations of this proprietary age-old technologies.
I understand you have to sell your Sundec but as I said earlier on this is a technology forum and we must try to lay down the facts. The comparison of your 5w Sundec to a so called 40w HP is misleading. Try compare it to a 5w HP thin client then we will have started something here.
Computers / Re: Cyber Cafes With thin Client Technology In Operation. by moscovite: 11:57pm On Oct 05, 2013
I also note below that your explanations are particularly for those type of thin client that do nothing on their own. They rely totally on the server. What we actually call zero client.
My early thin-client life was with this type of dumb terminals. Used a particular popular one for close to three years. I dont know about you but from my experience, where cafes are concerned, they are more problematic to operate in the long run than the real thin clients (Non Zero Clients). At a point I had to stop using them for my cafe.
This is the major reason:
Zero Clients usually have only a Bios that allows them connect to a server software on a larger computer. Much like the terminal of old. They are hardwired. You can't do any manipulations with them. Most of the manipulation is done on the Server Software. This server software are usually written by the manufacturers of the zero client hardware. So really your life depends on how fast the hardware manufacturer can keep it's server software up to date. In those days, when there is a patch on Windows the server software starts to malfunction. This is because most of these softwares are officially unknown to Microsoft whereas they modify major things like registry, services, programs that are core to windows. If they were known they would have Licences and Microsoft will not patch them out. But then the Licence will make them expensive. Sometimes this modifications can be seen as viruses. So as I was saying if the server becomes unstable and the manufacturer does not come out with it's own patch on time to stabilize it then you are in trouble.

Whereas proper thin clients are made to actually access the major OS(Windows, Linux, Unix etc) in a particular way known to the major OS . They usually have their own small OS to boot, can take small piece of programs that will make it connect to any Major OS worth it's salt. They can connect to Windows, Linux, Unix etc. In other words their tiny OS is independent. They don't have to modify things in any of the major OS to connect. In fact the big OS are made ready to receive them if certain conditions are met. Most major OS have tiny version of themselves for the thin client. In Windows it's tagged "embedded"? No patch will ever block them out. So all one needs is to meet that condition.

Its much like needing a pass to get into a secure building. The first person finds a way to get the pass, even if he has to lie to get it or steal it but he still has the pass and is allowed into the building and can go anywhere. The second person enters through the window into the building. However anytime there is a security issue within the building and an extra layer of security is added the first person will be ok as he has the pass ( It will be assumed that the new security layer will be acquainted with the existing pass so as not to disrupt the smooth operation of the building) whereas the other person will have to find his way around the new security measure. Much like looking for another window to go through.

This can be a pain in the ass if you are running a cafe. You could lose customers if it happens. So my friend pmc, it's not only about the cost of purchase, it's about what you get in the long run. As I said earlier even older versions of some of the so called expensive ones can compete favourably in price with the brand new Chinese ones. The other supposed advantage zero clients have over thin clients is in power consumption. While most thin clients will consume 5 watts, zero clients consume 0-1 watt.
However in deciding to finally PORT to thin clients as against zero client i realised that the difference in power consumption was not significant enough compared to the problems. Indeed to have a 100 watts difference (the energy of one bulb) you will already have 25 thin clients. How many systems do Cafes have? This is why I really don't offer Zero Clients which is what most Chinese produce.



pmictltd: Hello Friends,
Advice for us.
I observed that many Cyber Cafe Owners and or Organizations that are now using Thin Client in place of Standard CPU are lacking knowledge on the type/configuration/spec of Host Server for their Thin Client.
64 bits ultimate version for the Host Server of thin client is better. The Windows 7 Ultimate 64bits and windows xp professional 64bits are the Recommended versions of windows for Host Server.

Reasons:
32 bits windows does not support more than 3gb memory, in case you have more than 5 numbers of Thin Client Connected to the Host Server considering, while 64 bits windows takes upto 32gb ram.
Server Configuration suitable for Thin Client for better performance
RECOMMENDED HOST PC/SERVER CONFIGURATION
For Windows 7 ,Windows Vista, Windows 2008 and LINUX OS
1 to 3= 2.0GHz Pentium E, 2GB RAM, 80 GB HDD
4 to 6= 2.33 GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, 160 GB HDD
7 to 10= core i7, 8GB RAM, 250 GB HDD
11 to 20= core i7 2.6ghz, 16GB RAM, 500GB HDD
21 to 30= 2x E5620 (16core Xeon) - 4 TB HD - 32 GB RAM - HW RAID

In most cases 32bits windows does not support Antivirus on the Host Server while 64bits windows does. Ad-ware Antivirus Free Version or paid one is one of the best Antivirus among Avast, Norton 360 etc.

Using Higher memory for Host Server enhances the speed and efficiency of Host Server, I want to believe that we understand this aspect very well.
The whole thin client are relying solely on the Host Server to perform its own task.
They take a virtual desktop from the Host Server which enables them to work independently. There for, the numbers of thin client connected to the Host Server determines the total amount of memories that will be on the Host Server.
This is very important for us to know, because the Host Server will freeze as soon the memory on it has been overused. And likewise the CPU of the Host PC should also be put into consideration. Some of us even use Pentium 4 as the Host PC. Ofcus its okay but the efficiency matters when the thin client are in use.

Mozilla Firefox browser, google chrome browser, opera browser are popular browser used on the Host Server.
Some other programs installed on the Host Server are Microsoft Office Suite, Yahoo Messenger, Antivirus, Skype, WinRar etc.
All this application consume memory whenever they are in use. Especially the browsers when they are opened in several tabs or windows.

We should have this at the back of our mind that we will never of This type of configuration for a standard CPU Pentium 3 200mb, and still expect a good performance when the system is in use.

If we want a good performance on our Thin Clients
We have to consider these and also do some necessary customization.
Server Configuration suitable for Thin Client for better performance
RECOMMENDED HOST PC/SERVER CONFIGURATION
For Windows XP Pro, Win 2003 server
1 to 3= 2.8GHz Pentium 4, 1GB RAM, 20 GB HDD
4 to 6= 3.2 GHz Pentium 4, 3GB RAM, 40 GB HDD
7 to 10= 2.5 GHz Core 2 Duo, 6GB RAM, 80 GB HDD
11 to 20= 2.33 GHz Core 2 Quad, 16GB RAM, 250GB HDD
21 to 30= 2.83 GHz Core 2 Quad, 32GB RAM, 500GB HDD


Server Configuration suitable for Thin Client for better performance
RECOMMENDED HOST PC/SERVER CONFIGURATION
For Windows 7 ,Windows Vista, Windows 2008 and LINUX OS
1 to 3= 2.0GHz Pentium E, 2GB RAM, 80 GB HDD
4 to 6= 2.33 GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, 160 GB HDD
7 to 10= core i7, 8GB RAM, 250 GB HDD
11 to 20= core i7 2.6ghz, 16GB RAM, 500GB HDD
21 to 30= 2x E5620 (16core Xeon) - 4 TB HD - 32 GB RAM - HW RAID


Please Note: Graphics of windows also tell on the consumption of memory & CPU of the Host Server. Thin Client does not support graphics, you will observe that whenever you play video or open an application. The apps like browser will briskly open. The mouse as well will be breaking when moving it.
Solution to adjust graphics, On windows 7, right click on the desktop, select personalize in the pop up, select windows classic in the dialog box. On windows xp, right click on the desktop area, click on properties, select windows classic under themes, click ok. Then open control panel, open mouse settings, click on pointers, select none under scheme, click ok.

Please contact me if you need more help setting up Cyber Cafe with Thin Client. ebenezer@omotere.com, 08086697100, 08035173259, 08077156180
Computers / Re: Cyber Cafes With thin Client Technology In Operation. by moscovite: 10:16pm On Oct 05, 2013
OK, i understand now. It was because you generalised in your statement as if all thin clients have problems with graphics. In other words what you meant to say is that cheap Chinese thin clients do not have those features. Can I ask another question. What happens if something goes bad in any of these Chinese Thin Client. Is the part replaceable or do we replace all the system? What about if a part goes bad inside Sundec. Do you repair or replace. Are it's part replaceable like the Dells, HPs etc. 
Yes HPs and Dells are very expensive when you buy the latest ones. However slightly older ones compete fairly with the Chinese and are as solid if not more solid than the Chinese ones. The old adage of "Tokunbo is better than New" which I later analysed to mean "Original Tokunbo is far better than Fake New"
pmictltd: Actually, Sundec, Thin Station and some other New Thin Client from china are the ones i am referring to.
As we all know that HP Thin Client, Dell wyse, and some other better thin client that their OS, internal flash memory, ram, processor are very expensive to purchase. 
For instance
HP H2P25AT Tower Thin Client - VIA Eden X2 U4200 1 GHz
    2 GB RAM
    1 GB Flash
    HP Smart Zero Client Service
    DVI                                  ₦76,587.58

HP C4G87AT Thin Client - VIA Eden X2 U4200 1 GHz
    2 GB RAM
    1 GB Flash
    Windows Embedded CE 6.0
    DVI                                  ₦90,509.09
Check http://www.ng.chertcomputers.com/pgProdList.cfm?Products=15975_156_0_321 for more prices of higher thin client with a very good performance.

where will small scale industry get money to buy 10 units of this type of thin client which more efficient in terms of graphics?
Considering so many other people who still look around for cheap thin client.
If you are not still clear please reply.

Computers / Re: Cyber Cafes With thin Client Technology In Operation. by moscovite: 1:33pm On Oct 04, 2013
Exactly what do you mean by saying it does not support graphics. I am not sure I understand it. Maybe your thin clients doesn't. But I know thin clients support graphics. There are thin Clients that can go on the Internet directly and you will browse easily. I can only assume that your thin clients doesn't support graphics.
The behaviour of the graphics does not mean thin clients does not support graphics. The graphics behaviour depends on thin client OS version, RDP version, server power(RAM and Processor speed) etc. If you have a thin client where you cannot upgrade the thin OS then as graphics become better you wouldn't be able to upgrade your RDP and your Thin OS. That is the biggest problem. With most Chinese thin clients there is no upgrade provisions. Whereas thin clients from proprietary companies like HP Dell Wyse have upgrades all the time and so an old Wyse will do well with Windows7 and will even do better with Windows8 once you upgrade the OS and RDP as soon as it is available on their website. In any case these companies don't joke with these things.
If your Sundec has an OS and RDP upgrade possibility then do that so as to bring it up to date and then you can make your server more powerful. You will probably be OK with the Graphics.
By the way which OS does SUNDEC use. Is it Windows CE versions or proprietary OS. Does SUNDEC provide upgrades for their OS or they simply bring out new products for new Windows.

pmictltd: Hello Friends,
Advice for us.
I observed that many Cyber Cafe Owners and or Organizations that are now using Thin Client in place of Standard CPU are lacking knowledge on the type/configuration/spec of Host Server for their Thin Client.
64 bits ultimate version for the Host Server of thin client is better. The Windows 7 Ultimate 64bits and windows xp professional 64bits are the Recommended versions of windows for Host Server.

Reasons:
32 bits windows does not support more than 3gb memory, in case you have more than 5 numbers of Thin Client Connected to the Host Server considering, while 64 bits windows takes upto 32gb ram.
Server Configuration suitable for Thin Client for better performance
RECOMMENDED HOST PC/SERVER CONFIGURATION
For Windows 7 ,Windows Vista, Windows 2008 and LINUX OS
1 to 3= 2.0GHz Pentium E, 2GB RAM, 80 GB HDD
4 to 6= 2.33 GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, 160 GB HDD
7 to 10= core i7, 8GB RAM, 250 GB HDD
11 to 20= core i7 2.6ghz, 16GB RAM, 500GB HDD
21 to 30= 2x E5620 (16core Xeon) - 4 TB HD - 32 GB RAM - HW RAID

In most cases 32bits windows does not support Antivirus on the Host Server while 64bits windows does. Ad-ware Antivirus Free Version or paid one is one of the best Antivirus among Avast, Norton 360 etc.

Using Higher memory for Host Server enhances the speed and efficiency of Host Server, I want to believe that we understand this aspect very well.
The whole thin client are relying solely on the Host Server to perform its own task.
They take a virtual desktop from the Host Server which enables them to work independently. There for, the numbers of thin client connected to the Host Server determines the total amount of memories that will be on the Host Server.
This is very important for us to know, because the Host Server will freeze as soon the memory on it has been overused. And likewise the CPU of the Host PC should also be put into consideration. Some of us even use Pentium 4 as the Host PC. Ofcus its okay but the efficiency matters when the thin client are in use.

Mozilla Firefox browser, google chrome browser, opera browser are popular browser used on the Host Server.
Some other programs installed on the Host Server are Microsoft Office Suite, Yahoo Messenger, Antivirus, Skype, WinRar etc.
All this application consume memory whenever they are in use. Especially the browsers when they are opened in several tabs or windows.

We should have this at the back of our mind that we will never of This type of configuration for a standard CPU Pentium 3 200mb, and still expect a good performance when the system is in use.

If we want a good performance on our Thin Clients
We have to consider these and also do some necessary customization.
Server Configuration suitable for Thin Client for better performance
RECOMMENDED HOST PC/SERVER CONFIGURATION
For Windows XP Pro, Win 2003 server
1 to 3= 2.8GHz Pentium 4, 1GB RAM, 20 GB HDD
4 to 6= 3.2 GHz Pentium 4, 3GB RAM, 40 GB HDD
7 to 10= 2.5 GHz Core 2 Duo, 6GB RAM, 80 GB HDD
11 to 20= 2.33 GHz Core 2 Quad, 16GB RAM, 250GB HDD
21 to 30= 2.83 GHz Core 2 Quad, 32GB RAM, 500GB HDD


Server Configuration suitable for Thin Client for better performance
RECOMMENDED HOST PC/SERVER CONFIGURATION
For Windows 7 ,Windows Vista, Windows 2008 and LINUX OS
1 to 3= 2.0GHz Pentium E, 2GB RAM, 80 GB HDD
4 to 6= 2.33 GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, 160 GB HDD
7 to 10= core i7, 8GB RAM, 250 GB HDD
11 to 20= core i7 2.6ghz, 16GB RAM, 500GB HDD
21 to 30= 2x E5620 (16core Xeon) - 4 TB HD - 32 GB RAM - HW RAID


Please Note: Graphics of windows also tell on the consumption of memory & CPU of the Host Server. Thin Client does not support graphics, you will observe that whenever you play video or open an application. The apps like browser will briskly open. The mouse as well will be breaking when moving it.
Solution to adjust graphics, On windows 7, right click on the desktop, select personalize in the pop up, select windows classic in the dialog box. On windows xp, right click on the desktop area, click on properties, select windows classic under themes, click ok. Then open control panel, open mouse settings, click on pointers, select none under scheme, click ok.

Please contact me if you need more help setting up Cyber Cafe with Thin Client. ebenezer@omotere.com, 08086697100, 08035173259, 08077156180
Politics / Re: Dangote Is The Next President Of Nigeria by moscovite: 9:48pm On Sep 17, 2013
Dangote for President 2019!!!
Business / Re: Cost Of Opening A Cyber Cafe In Nigeria by moscovite: 10:34am On Aug 11, 2013
Your CompThe cost of opening a cybercafe has gone down significantly.With thin clients you could have 8-10 systems running at less than 200k (All inclusive). I spent over 2 million naira on my first cafe in Abuja in 2004. I used regular systems then.Thin Clients made the huge difference in cost between now and then possible. As a result of the extremly low power consumption rate of thin clients, savings is huge both for startup cost and operating cost.
This is why if you want to succeed in this business you must use thin clients.

The risk of not using them are as follows:
etition will

1. Be able to outYour CYour competition would have invested less and can deploy more systemsis that your competition can out price you and send you out of business
For 10 System Cafe, here is the difference between thin clients and regular systems.


The cost of opening a cybercafe has gone down significantly.With thin clients you could

have 8-10 systems running at less than 200k. In those days (Early 2000) it use to be something like 1.5-2 million naira with regular systems and all associated equipment.Thin Clients is a major factor that made the huge difference in cost between now and then possible. As a result of the extremly low power consumption rate of thin clients, savings is huge both for startup cost and operating cost.

This is why if you want to succeed in this business you must use thin clients.

The risk of not using them are as follows:


1. Your Competition will be able to outprice you as a result of extremly low operating

expenses using thin clients. For example, spending 500-700 naira on fuel daily for 10 systems against the usual 1,500-3,000 naira. Cost of maintaining a small generator is significantly lower. System maintenance is not required and so on.

2. With the same initial investment he will be able to buy more systems and so attract more customers and make more money.


Here are some of the savings you make (As a Startup) between thin clients and regular system in a 10-System Cafe.(Thin Clients=TC ; Regular Systems=RS)

UPS:
Thin Clients(TC) : 2 ups
Regular Systems(RS) 11 ups (10 systems + server)

Generator:
TC:2KVA
RS:5KVA


Stabilizer:
TC: 2KVA
RS: 5KVA


AC is not required, Equipment you need to connect to power is lower and so cheaper etc etc.
Computers / Re: Cyber Cafes With thin Client Technology In Operation. by moscovite: 12:34am On Jul 21, 2013
brightk: deep freeze grin 2 me sims 2 be gud @ d very beginning but it has its own issue..anyway it can be bypassed just using d deep freeze unlocker.. believe me u would hate it...cos u can specify the no of times u want d system 2 reboot before making it act correctly..


i would recommend tin clients anyday anytime...btw no body has ever mentioned a dedicated graphics card for the tin client server.. i have visited most cafes.. although they sim 2 have gud configuration but in terms of display capabilities de are left out.. if u like put 40gb ram on d server as long as there is no dedicated graphics card for these clients 2 share.. u might notice some sluggishness.

As for vulnerabilities, i tink most of the common windows software has a linux version, skype, messenger,office suite, and much more... best tin is 2 deploy a linux server for your tin client....there are workarounds 2 make d whole tin look like a windows desktop 2 appease customers...rather dan spending much more on antivirus packages cos they wont help.

if it is dat bad dat u dont like d feel of being a linux geek. den i recommend u use guest accounts on your server configurations...i dont know of others but giving each user a restricted account of just read only can help tins work around

some piple like using dedicated images on the the server...d best is 2 create an equal no of users as 2 d no of tin clients on the server and giving each and everyone a guest account.. and just enable rdp on the server.

sometimes u just have 2 get dirty 2 get d best... i am slowly porting 2 linux....

Linux? Windows 7 is even barely accepted within cafes. How will you deal with customers who bring their software to run so they can do their forex etc. Most softwares around are written for windows xp that is why you still have XP running in most cafes. If you want to start losing customers the day you open install a Linux.

Graphics: Are you aware that thin clients only bring what has been processed to your screen and has no interaction whatsoever with host VGA. Have you ever configured your thin client on 256 and get a high quality image with that big VGA you talked about. It wouldnt happen. The thin clients bring everything straight to its display raw and resolves the graphics using its own VGA. Sluggishness has to do with your network speed mostly. Its the same with Videos. You can see videos come in frames because RDP brings in the video raw and uncompressed, whereas what you get from the net like youtube come in compressed. RDP brings it in raw and you need a large bandwidth to have video frames come in faster. By some calculation you need about 150-200Mbps. Your LAN and switch is typically 100Mbps. So, that is where the slugishness comes from.
Try and get a gigabit switch, gigabit Lan card for server and maybe a Gigabit thin client and see how the video will run.
This has not been an issue for cafes anyway because cafe owners dont want you to continously stream video on his network especially when most ISP cap their bandwidth. You can finish his entire monthly allocation in one day with such video.
So slugisshness is an internal bandwidth issue because of how the RDP protocol operates.
Computers / Re: Cyber Cafes With thin Client Technology In Operation. by moscovite: 12:00am On Jul 21, 2013
Donkoga: @pmictltd & @muscovite, i have greatly enjoyed your angle of submissions and must commend your maturity.

If only i could get an espresso and muffins across to you guys!

i suspect that pmictltd would gain (and lots of us too) if he can grab at the hint muscovite is jabbing at here.....the vulnerability of the thin server. because i know that deep freeze could be compromised (i used to have a cafe).

so, in the spirit of muscovite's argument that this is a place to learn and teach others, could you (@muscovite) please explain the work around or solution to the vulnerability in contention here.

hasta la luego, pals

One hint: We all know that in a cafe environment reformatting systems is the ultimate solution. That is a time tested solution to solving chronic malware/ network related problems in a cafe. If you can find a solution to how you can reformat your system while keeping all cafe software and documents intact and your configurations correct such that your system can run within the twinkle of an eye (In less than 3 minutes maximum) and it can be done by anybody regardless of their IT training level (from 0 to infinity) then you are on the part to solving a big part of that problem. You might not get it exactly the way we do ours but as a programmer you should find your own solution.
Computers / Re: Cyber Cafes With thin Client Technology In Operation. by moscovite: 11:40pm On Jul 20, 2013
Donkoga: @pmictltd & @muscovite, i have greatly enjoyed your angle of submissions and must commend your maturity.

If only i could get an espresso and muffins across to you guys!

i suspect that pmictltd would gain (and lots of us too) if he can grab at the hint muscovite is jabbing at here.....the vulnerability of the thin server. because i know that deep freeze could be compromised (i used to have a cafe).

so, in the spirit of muscovite's argument that this is a place to learn and teach others, could you (@muscovite) please explain the work around or solution to the vulnerability in contention here.

hasta la luego, pals

Thanks. The details of what we do to secure our servers cant be divulged here unless you want to put me into trouble. It has a "Know-How" status. All I can say is that we do not run a simple software or programme to do it. We actually act on your HDD such that it ends up doing different things to secure the system. Its the result of research into finding solutions to the problem. I am sure that if anyone is solutions inclined then it's easy to find several different solutions to securing your servers such that you can sleep well.
A brief History: We arrived at this because we dreamt of putting Cafes all over the country. If you want to do that and live long then you will agree with me that your cafe must be completely trouble free so that you don't get 36 x ....... different calls daily(36 for 36 states). So we embarked on this journey of making our Cafes trouble free. It was during this period we discovered thin clients. We saw that it solved two major problems, power and virus. But it came with its own baggage. So, instead of running away from thin clients, we decided that the smart thing to do is to solve its own problem. In the end we achieved. The way we do our servers is one of the solutions and a significant one at that.
We were able to deploy to a few states before people started showing interest in the model and it took us time to decide to start doing it for others. Once we decided to start doing it for others it became obvious that we couldn't continue with our dreams. Why? Our thin client model is suppose to give us advantage over others, and it does. But As soon as we start doing it for others we lose that competitive advantage. It's like competing with oneself. The only way we can compete is to withhold some of the solutions from our client. That was not an option for us.
So it was in the course of trying to build a problem free cafe that can be operated by a non-IT person easily, for ourselves, that we came up with the server buildup.
Anyway, now we have these things operating in so many different parts of the country, operated by their owners trouble free. Unfortunately we have also discontinued our dream, though we are happy to have someone smile because our "Know-How" has turned their business around. Ok, I think I have talked too much and overblown my trumpet. habi?
Computers / Re: Cyber Cafes With thin Client Technology In Operation. by moscovite: 12:07am On Jun 14, 2013
pmictltd: Hello Mr. Moscovite,
Antivirus! Antivirus!! Will always remain problematic to cyber cafe owners.
But Thin Client users have limited problem compare to cyber cafe owner who make use of standard CPU.
Don't forget that the Thin Client is a replica of standard cpu, and it rely on a terminal server to perform its task.
Applications and programmes installed on the terminal server are what the thin client also used to perform its task.

Most Cyber Cafe Owners does not even make use of Antivirus. Instead they use deepfreeze.
Deepfreeze makes PCs indestructible. It protects endpoints by Freezing the desired configuration set by you – the IT professional. Any unwelcome or unwanted changes users make while in-session are prevented from sticking. It’s really simple. By restarting your computers, systems are returned to the desired state. Meanwhile, user data can be stored safely on a network drive or in a ThawSpace or dropbox or googledrive to be retained across reboots. This helps machines run smoothly and efficiently, while giving you more up-time and boosting user productivity. The built-in Deep Freeze Enterprise Console or Core Console makes life even easier.

However, presently in my cyber cafe, i use a licensed USB ANTIVIRUS (google 'usb-av' and download the free version to give it a try) on both the TIMER SERVER and TERMINAL OR HOST SERVER.
The antivirus automatically scan external drives plugged into the usb ports before usage, in this manner my Host server is secured. Despite that, i still install deepfreeze on the terminal or host server. Whenever there is need for upgrade of and applications or programmes, i thaw down deepfreeze one time, upgrade the applications and restart my server to enable the deepfreeze.

I also make sure that my clients cyber cafe run same way mine has been working. Because i don't usually have problem.
Except for internet service providers. And presently we have a dual internet access by which we can easily swap from one to the other if there is internet failure.

Thank you.
Ok, I guess deepfreeze will help to some extent. It has its limitations but it should give real and imaginary comfort. I dont think the USB antivirus is of any help anyway. It can give imaginary comfort but not real because when the chips ar down its deepfreeze that will salvage the situation in your configuration. That is if it doesnt get compromised too. Though rarely.Anyway its the keyword in your configuration.
Well Done

1 Like

Computers / Re: New Wifi Hotspot Startup. by moscovite: 11:57pm On Jun 13, 2013
aslan: about 500 meters

Aslan. 500 meters is not a joke for an hotspot. Are you sure you wouldnt need a permit for beaming 500 meters long. Anyway, you should find that out. Hotspots are usually within the immediate environment. In a regular city 500 meters is several blocks away. This means several houses away. so If its a neighbourhood with houses everywhere then you need a really powerful transmitter to go through them and maybe a mast to tower above some houses. Of course if the distance is within the immediate environment then you can use APs to work around it.
So, this scenarios will determine the eventual cost of your hotspot project. Lets look at both.
The basic things you need are:
1.Antennas covering 360 degrees: It could be an omni or three 120 degrees sectoral. If its a shorter distance and you dont need to penetrate buildings, you probably might settle for simple outdoor APs instead.
2.The antenna must report to a switch or router or even directly to a modem. Most likely to a router.
3. The router must take it through a captive portal/Radius Server for authentication and authorisation. This is the system that allows you bill them as it checks to see if they are authorised to browse.
4. Then, of course you must have the gateway ready to allow them through after due authentication and authorisation.

So your cost will include

-Antennas(omni or 3 sectoral) or Simple APs(4-6 pcs @15k per piece) to capture 360 degrees (That can be between 60k-150k)
-Gigabit Router for about 35k
-Captive Portal and Radius Server Implementation for authentication and authorisation:If you want to have the hardware, software and hosting you could spend between 100k to 500k. If it is outsourced and pay-as-you-go then you might start with 25k.
-Of course you have an idea of what internet will cost.
Conservatively you must be ready to spend between 150k-1Million depending on the terrain. Dont forget permission too.


You should understand that this cost is completely different if you just want a hotspot in your cafe or your immediate environment and not at a considerable distance. All you need is a wireless router that can act as a captive portal with a radius server for as low as 25k. If you want to extend to other parts of the area your wireless router does not reach in your compound, then, maybe one or two more APs @ 15k each will be added. This effectively means you will spend less than 50k to cover most part of your place.

so, as you can see its a totally different ball game i you want to extend outside and sell on a regular basis.
Computers / Re: Creating Wireless Internet Hotspots by moscovite: 11:05pm On Jun 13, 2013
Contact me everyone for your hotspot deployment. 20,000 naira and less than 2 hours is what is required
Politics / Re: El Rufai's Accidental Public Servant by moscovite: 2:50pm On Jun 06, 2013
thanks. got it. just dowloading it now
Politics / Re: El Rufai's Accidental Public Servant by moscovite: 10:09pm On Jun 05, 2013
aceTS: Though i've being addicted to nairaland since 2010, i only decided to register yersterday because i felt i should share el rufai's book with guys on this forum.its an ebook.its free.just pm me if you need it. Thanks
Pls let me have it on
faniyi@yahoo.com . Thanks in advance
Computers / Re: Cyber Cafes With thin Client Technology In Operation. by moscovite: 12:26pm On Jun 04, 2013
To philmore,
I just saw that you mentioned the thin client terminal server vulnerability casually in your listing. If you mention everything casually, this is one thing that cannot be mentioned casually and say "if not secured". This is the very reason why Cafes in the past have abandoned the technology. This is the difference between the survival of a thin client cafe and it's demise. Shutdown, locking task bar etc are nothing compared to this. In a cafe environment where everyone does anything on the system, how do you secure your server. You have to reassure customers otherwise, as I said earlier, you will start seeing negative comments about it and your sales will stop.
Please don't mention anti virus here as a solution because, If you have truly been running a cafe, you will know that anti virus is more of a problem than solution to Cafes.
Computers / Re: Cyber Cafes With thin Client Technology In Operation. by moscovite: 12:14pm On Jun 04, 2013
Mr Philmorecafe, What you have reeled out is what is needed to set up a thin client cafe and it just look like a standard marketing document you have prepared to continue to bombard people with. 
It is this same configuration, by virtue of the thin client architecture, that makes the thin client server extremely vulnerable to malware. This in turn  affects profitability.

What I am asking is specific. Since, by virtue of thin client network configuration (meaning your configuration above), the server is extremly vulnerable, how do you neutralise the vulnerability. In other words, How do you secure a thin client server that is "n" times more vulnerable ( in terms of malware) than a normal non-thin client server of a cafe with "n" number of systems. 

Setting up is one thing, sustaining a cafe whose server, by virtue of the architecture, is extremly vulnerable to malware, which in turn can bring profitability to nought, is another.

It is in the interest of all who sell thin clients (including you) and those to come that you make clear that you have adequately taken care of these vulnerability otherwise pretty soon people will start talking really negatively about the technology for cafe and you will stop making sales. You should ask yourself that If it is so good (and I know it is the best for a cafe that wants to make good money in this our environment) , why is the adoption so low. Why are people not using it, especially when we know it has been forever.

 It is because of the vulnerability of the server. I have been using it forever and saw that problem and saw why Cafes who started using it before me abandoned it. Fortunately as a core programmer, I  was able to completely overcome that vulnerability in such a way that a cafe can never be down due to malicious software or virus activities( Of course if you throw your server down from the fourth floor your cafe will be down- That is Hardware issue). 

This is the reason why we insist we must prepare the server for the task ahead and have turned down buyers who insist on preparing the servers for themselves. We understand the implication of just simply selling and configuring as you have reeled out. Sooner of later it will come hunting everybody including yourself.

1 Like

Computers / Re: Cyber Cafes With thin Client Technology In Operation. by moscovite: 11:58am On Jun 03, 2013
This is to pmictltd:

I just noticed you sometimes dont give complete information on this technology especially as it concerns the use in cybercafes. I can only attribute it to your eagerness to sell your product and services, which is a legitimate approach on its own. However this is more a technology thread as against a sales-pitch thread and so i am at liberty to tell you to give complete and accurate information on the pros and cons of this technology as some people who come to this particular place want to know the technological implication to their business.

For instance, I have not seen in your post where you address the issue of the thin client servers as it concerns it's extreme vulnerability to malware(virus, spyware etc) compared to servers of normal systems. You can talk as much as you want about high configuration, core i7 and so on, but you fail to address the most fundamental issue that makes even IT people run from using the technology in Cafes. It's extreme vulnerability to malware compared to normal PC (non thin client) server.

I have mentioned several times on my posts and cannot overemphasize the devastating consequence of a thin client server that is not well prepared for the task. Let me explain again.

Thin Clients do all their processing on the server. If you have 20 thin clients the server is processing 20 different applications and requests. In normal PC (non thin client) configuration the server only processes webpage requests and sends it back to the requesting PC. It does not process any application. (By application I mean, Microsoft office, opening your emails, opening any other files including malicious ones, etc).  This are all done on your local PC. So, it is the local PC that is vulnerable to a crash. 
However in thin client these are all done on the thin client server.  So the thin client server is likely to crash more often than normal servers. In fact, if you have 20 thin clients, the server is 20 times more likely to crash than a normal one.
I have seen so many cafes complain about this problem and the fact that they have to call in engineers more often to reformat the server while the cafe is at a complete standstill. If the owners are engineers themselves then they reformat and reload.  For non-IT owners, it will cost more as they will spend more on maintaining the server while revenue for the period of maintenance is lost. This is extremely bad for Cafes, who do not earn high revenue. I have seen the implication several times.

This is why we have the type of thin clients we deploy (Mostly HPCompaq and DellWyse) and it is a must that we prepare your server for the task ahead. I am not talking about those CDs used by most Chinese thin clients that makes it possible to use with XP or Windows 7. We don't even use them because we have seen their serious  limitations. 
We are talking about preparing them to withstand the frequent problems amd vulnerability they are bound to encounter as a result of the architecture. 
 
I just want to level with people who come to this thread as, from my conversation with a good number of them, they come to seek knowledge so as to make informed decision. In a normal advertising or sales forum I wouldn't have done this.

In the beginning of these thread people were speaking more against the technology than for it. Knowing that it is the only good technology available, in our terrible condition, if a cafe owner wants to make money I countered those. I am also speaking to you because you must have been a beneficiary of that intervention but you should also come clean on quite a number of it's problems and reassure people on your solution to them, not just pushing hard to sell your services on a purely technology forum.

1 Like

Computers / Re: Cyber Cafes With thin Client Technology In Operation. by moscovite: 5:48am On Mar 20, 2013
deesquare-diddy:
Just few months ago, i set up a cyber cafe using thin clients, the problem of thing client is the timer to use and when u finally get a timer that work, you have to pay exorbitant rate to get it unlike the normal computer timers. Secondly, during usage, the response is always slow, graphics hang, there is no smooth scrolling of pages and customers complain of it. Thank god i have the normal computers, if not i'll have closed down as customers always turn down using the thing clients.

You do not know how to set it up properly. Especially when it comes to configuration. If you tell me your server config; number of thin clients and network architecture maybe i can tell you what you have done very wrong. Your hanging depends on getting the configuration right and its between those three things.

1 Like

Computers / Re: Cyber Cafes With thin Client Technology In Operation. by moscovite: 11:17am On Mar 06, 2013
brightk:

ah ba nigerians.. nor be only since 10yrs na 20yrs.. wen tin client come out

Thin Clients have forever been! In the days before PCs they had mainframes. You access those mainframe through terminals. Terminal is a different name for Thin Client. It never went even after PCs became the in-thing. Companies like WYSE, now DellWyse continued to make them. Now they are receiving attention again. So be wise and read up on them since you use Internet.
They have also been in Nigeria since. I remember using Wyse terminals in the late 80s in a computer firm in Lagos. So just because you are just hearing of them doesn't mean they haven't been around in Nigeria.

1 Like

Computers / Re: Cyber Cafes With thin Client Technology In Operation. by moscovite: 11:01am On Mar 06, 2013
quest4$:




Dear Moscovite lets say you are right and you have indeed been using thin client for the past 10yrs how come you forget to 
1. specify the type of system required for thin client so that your buyers do not jump into it thinking they will just integrate it to already exist pentium3 which some of them possibly have.
2. if you say timer is not a problem please share with us here a screenshot of the timer you use on thin client because use seem to know it all and we dont.
3. Moscovite the wise one please if i only have one server and every other thing in my cafe is a thin client what will happen to everybody in my cafe if the server suddenly breaksdown,will every customer eat me alive  or will they be happy customers smiling at while i try to explain to all of them that their work is gone.
4. Well on the issue of anti-virus are you aware that there are thin clients that will not connect to the host server if you have an anti-virus installed on it.
5. Lastly while you try to reply please stick to the truth and don't try to score points because you have thin clients to sell and spend more time educating your prospects on the down side of thin client than try to scream thin client is the solution because it is the easier thin to do when you need money.Tell you prospect for example that having just one server without an already installed backup server spells doom for him and his business. SAY THE TRUTH DON'T LIE JUST BECAUSE YOU NEED MONEY

thanks

@quest

Sorry I haven't been following this thread for quite sometime. I would have replied you promptly. Seems I have to come here often because of people like you.
Obviously you know little about the way the system works. I don't blame you because it took us over 6-8 years to work out the perfect network and configuration to drive these systems seemlessly in a cafe environment. 

Let me tell you THE TRUTH, since you have demanded it. I will tackle the questions you raised one after another and number them the same way you did.

1. Why should they jump into it. If you have been driving an S-Class all your life do you suddenly jump into piloting a plane. Abi what kind of statement is that. I have giving arguments why thin clients is far far better. I think it is the other persons responsibility to make sure he fully understands it well before delving into it. This is done on individual basis. Different people already know they don't need a Pentium 3  so they ask other questions. Am i suppose to already know all their questions and write on everything here. I am not God and your statement need not make me think i should be and write everything in the world about thin client. You could have chipped the "DONT USE Pentium 3" bit in yourself for the dumb ones who want to start piloting a plane after going to driving school. 
You also need not attack the person. Attack and counter the debate or message. 

2. You have not employed me to lecture everyone on thin client. If you are trying to get more on what you don't know you need not do it so negatively. Admit you don't know, call and let's talk. I have my own work. I am not going to start spending hours upon hours on Nairaland just because a Quest is trying to get information and going about it negatively. I can say there are a lot of timer out there. Do your research yourself quest. Do a little bit of work. I have laid down the principles why you HAVE to use thin clients in cybercafes now. I have 15 of them and have done for a lot more all over the country. As I am writing I have 6 deployments to do this week. So pls don't patronize or deceive others that in cafe business Pentium 4 systems is still the way to go.

3. Quest, if i unleash my experience here on this 3rd question you will definitely feel embarassed at the question. It will be obvious you are trying to score cheap. First and foremost, a sever suddenly shutting down is different from it going down(spoiling).

Case 1: COMPUTER SHUTDOWN.(Most times because of power):

 If it shuts down then everyone losses his/her work on the Ram but not saved ones on the hard drive. This is true for both normal cafe systems and thin client systems.
In this case thin client technology comes tops. Why? If you have a 20 PC system cafe, you will require 21 very good UPS to avoid such problem so that your customers will retain their RAM based work.(20system +Server)
In thin Client technology you need only 1(One) very good UPS to achieve this. 
Is there any comparison. 1 to 20.
The lesson this teaches, and which I tell my client always is "The Server is the only thing you have to watch over-JUST ONE COMPUTER" If you are so careless that you can't take very very good care of one computer then get out of the business. SHIKENAH!

CASE2: COMPUTER SPOIL

 When a computer goes bad it goes off. So in any case everyting on the RAM is lost.  In the case of thin clients everything not saved at that moment is lost.Same as normal PC. But, unless the hard drive is the cause of the sudden problem, everything saved on the drive remains. So UNLESS the Hard drive irretrievably crashes everyone can retrieve all their saved materials, be it in a thin client environment or normal system.
 If the hard drive crashes then no one can retrieve anything. But then, studying a cafe environment their are factors that makes it quite different from an office environment or a school one and still makes thin client comes top.

First and foremost, a cafe is a public place. Most people will not store their important or private files on the system. Equally, Anybody that stores files out there should expect not to meet it sometimes because Cafes do format their systems all the time. So really, from a policy point of view a customer is not expected to store very important files on the system. I havent heard of any cafe that sends sms out to its customers that they want to format system number 12 so everybody should come and remove their files from it. In actual fact most sensible cafes use deepfreeze which does not allow any storage unless you create a deepfreeze-free partition. So, really cafe goers bring their flash drive. That is why we make sure servers prepared by us for thin clients accept flash always. 
If you look at it from this policy point of view it really doesn't matter if the hard drive crashes in a cafe environment.

Experience have shown that hard drives don't spoil that easily. Some of my thin clients cafe have been running for 3-4 years without a HDD change. The minimal I know is 2 years.

In any case, since thin clients all depend on one Server, then have a standby replica of your thin client server tucked away in a corner. Ever heard of "Redundant Severs"?. 
So, Immediately one goes down, within three minutes you are up and running again. You can then go and change what went wrong in the first server and put it aside as redundant or change it back the next day. 

4.

I don't know what thin clients you use but I havent seen an antivirus that stops my thin clients from functioning properly and I have used so many different ones until i settled for the ones that suited me. I think you must definitely be doing something very very wrong. 
So I haven't seen. Maybe if you tell me about your case I could actually point out what you are doing wrong.
Let me also say, that if you are the type that runs all those CDs before your thin client can run on an XP or non-Server based windows then off course the anti-virus may see some files on those CDs as virus. I don't use those CDs. I tried the NComputing ones in the past and had to abandon it because of it's many wahala when it comes to cafe. Most Chinese ones are made likewise. 

Secondly, it is obvious you are a bloody novice in cafe or a non-progressive cafe owner. Since when has anti-virus been so important to a cafe. The experienced ones know that anti-virus is a decoration in Cafes and most experienced Cafes dont even use it. They are more a menace than a helper in the business.

I have anti virus in some of my Cafes because some of my attendants feel comfortable to have them. Some don't have because they delete people's important files on their flash. So, it depends. To me they are mere decoration. They are worthless. A lot of my experience cafe-owner customers tell me to remove them. 

5.Mr. Quest. Just because you don't know much about a technology doesn't mean you should disparage it. Take a cue from lessons of old where the Church and the Powers that be believed that you will fall off at the end of the earth and crucified scientists for saying the world was round. Today we know better.

1 Like

Computers / Re: Setting-up ICT Labs In Secondary Schools by moscovite: 9:34am On Mar 06, 2013
I think you should do this ICT Labs using thin client technology. I have done a few public schools myself using both and now understand that for everyone (Donor, The School, The Student that will use it etc) to appreciate this lab, you have to use this technology. 

Let me explain. 

Public Schools are not the richest of schools. Most times they get there labs from government or donors  like NGOs or Individuals. After the lab is established, with Generators in place, the donors cut the opening tapes to declare the lab fit to use and then leave. Most donors will not be willing to fund the maintenance of the place endlessly. Especially FUELLING THEIR GENERATORS or repairing them. Most of these public schools cannot afford to buy petrol or diesel regularly to power their school talk less the  lab.

Let's do a small analysis:
 For a 20-System Lab with conventional PCs, you need nothing less than a  6KVA Generator that will gulp nothing less than 2000 Naira daily. That is 40,000 Naira per month or 120,000 Naira per term for those PUBLIC SCHOOL. Take it from me, they simply don't have it!. 
Private school will easily do it. They have money. Public schools can't, so these laboratories end up being grossly underutilized or totally abandoned. You should go to some of these schools to know.

Thin Clients, when carefully selected and properly deployed (and that is very very important) will serve the purpose and maximize utilization of the Laboratory.
 Here is why. 
Thin Clients cuts fuel consumption drastically and keeps viruses at bay depending on your deployment. A 20 system school with thin client can be powered with less than 500-600 Naira per school-day using a 2-3KVA generator (Depending on the type of thin client). That is 75% reduction. That will be 30,000 naira per term for the school. This is already encouraging.

But we can go furthermore

We can deploy SOLAR at about 6-8 times less the normal cost. i.e If you estimate that it will cost 6-8 million to deploy solar panels for conventional system, you can now deploy for a 1-1.5 million.

Here is how:

With such reduced power consumption, we can start thinking SOLAR for these schools since the cost of solar deployment will also be 4 times less than normal.  
Furthermore, if we intelligently incorporate weekends and holidays, when the solar system is not used and so batteries can be fully charged and ready for action, we can further reduce the cost by about half. 
So we can possibly reduce the cost by almost 8 times or thereabout.
This is, obviously, within range of what can be proposed as a total package to donors. 

In other words, with this, the school can have a perpetually opened and functional ICT Lab on school-days at no fuel-consumption cost to the school.

If you want to understand this further you can reach me at
faniyi@yahoo.com
Info@surfcity-networks.com
08052633663
Www.surfcity-networks.com
Business / Re: Is Cyber Cafe Business Going Extinct In Nigeria? by moscovite: 9:32am On Nov 26, 2012
This topic is very interesting and from my reading through I see many negative talk about cybercafe. Having run the business for over 10-12 years here is what I can tell you.

It has become less revenue yielding than it used to be. However it is still profitable. What most people don't do is to adjust quickly to the change in revenue drop. As revenue dropped so also has cost of running dropped. That is why the profit is still there. Take for example Bandwidth payment. Before the Starcomms of this world we use to pay 180k per month for bandwidth. Starcomms dropped this to 7k per month in one fell sweep. For sometime people reduced their cost of bandwidth but retained the high revenue. It was a matter of time before the revenue too dropped as individuals started getting their own Starcomms. Though starcomms dropped revenue drastically, cost like fuel consumption and constant maintenance of system for virus never dropped. So, obviously profit became thinner and in some cases went negative (loss). I think this happened with most people. New entries into the market were the worst hit. Those of us who had mustered up clientele were still able to survive for sometime. I cant remember the number of new entries that closed around me.

So it was clear we had to bring down the cost of the other two factors. So we worked at that. We experimented on so many things until we arrived at some categories and models of Thin Clients that rescued us from power and constant maintenance. Though they brought their own particular problems that could crash the business instantly, we were able to solve it our particular way since we were programmers.

So yes, the business is no more profitable if you continue the old way. If you bring down your fuel consumption and maintenance cycle to nil then you are in good business. Unfortunately this gospel I have preached to both new and existing cybercafes. Existing ones always change to the systems. It's the new ones that don't listen. They have a thousand engineers telling them to go the old way and here I am, a lone ranger, telling them to go the other way. I have always failed with them but been highly successful with those who have been running one before because they understand when I breakdown their problems to them and then give them the solution. How I wish I could get new ones to understand it before their mis-step. I guess they will have to learn the hardway.

So, yes the cybercafe business is unprofitable if you put it together the old way. You will struggle to survive in the first six months. But it is very profitable when you bring down both fuel consumption and constant formatting (maintenance) of systems. You will not wait three days before you start seeing a good margin that will only increase. So my verdict is SMARTLY BUILT CYBERCAFE IS VERY PROFITABLE.

We build this Cafes for people now and run 15 of them all over the countryOuse have changed the fortunes of tens of Cafes this wayouTou can reach us at

08052633663 or info@surfcity-networks.com
Website www.surfcity-networks.com
Business / Re: Is Cyber Cafe Business Going Extinct In Nigeria? by moscovite: 9:20am On Nov 26, 2012
This topic is very interesting and from my reading through I see many negative talk about cybercafe. Having run the business for over 10-12 years here is what I can tell you.

It has become less revenue yielding than it used to be. However it is still profitable. What most people don't do is to adjust quickly to the change in revenue drop. As revenue dropped so also has cost of running dropped. That is why the profit is still there. Take for example Bandwidth payment. Before the Starcomms of this world we use to pay 180k per month for bandwidth. Starcomms dropped this to 7k per month in one fell sweep. For sometime people reduced their cost of bandwidth but retained the high revenue. It was a matter of time before the revenue too dropped as individuals started getting their own Starcomms. Though starcomms dropped revenue drastically, cost like fuel consumption and constant maintenance of system for virus never dropped. So, obviously profit became thinner and in some cases went negative (loss). I think this happened with most people. New entries into the market were the worst hit. Those of us who had mustered up clientele were still able to survive for sometime. I cant remember the number of new entries that closed around me.

So it was clear we had to bring down the cost of the other two factors. So we worked at that. We experimented on so many things until we arrived at some categories and models of Thin Clients that rescued us from power and constant maintenance. Though they brought their own particular problems that could crash the business instantly, we were able to solve it our particular way since we were programmers.

So yes, the business is no more profitable if you continue the old way. If you bring down your fuel consumption and maintenance cycle to nil then you are in good business. Unfortunately this gospel I have preached to both new and existing cybercafes. Existing ones always change to the systems. It's the new ones that don't listen. They have a thousand engineers telling them to go the old way and here I am, a lone ranger, telling them to go the other way. I have always failed with them but been highly successful with those who have been running one before because they understand when I breakdown their problems to them and then give them the solution. How I wish I could get new ones to understand it before their mis-step. I guess they will have to learn the hardway.

So, yes the cybercafe business is unprofitable if you put it together the old way. You will struggle to survive in the first six months. But it is very profitable when you bring down both fuel consumption and constant formatting (maintenance) of systems. You will not wait three days before you start seeing a good margin that will only increase. So my verdict is SMARTLY BUILT CYBERCAFE IS VERY PROFITABLE.

We build this Cafes for people now and run 15 of them all over the country. You can reach me at

08052633663 or info@surfcity-networks.com
Website www.surfcity-networks.com
Computer Market / Get Thin Clients On Credit(hire Purchase/lease). by moscovite: 3:52pm On Aug 31, 2012
Good Morning Nairalanders-Cafe Owners. Get Thin Clients on Credit(Hire Purchase/Lease).

We have  been working on a project to replace conventional PCs  with thin clients for Cafes so that more cafes will become successful. 
Though most owners understand the tremendous advantage of thin clients over legacy systems, most do not have the funds to do this makeover. 
In our style we went out to look for a solution and here is what we have courtesy of a sponsor.

Now we can offer this restructuring plan for any cafe owner with a convenient payment terms. As a pilot we are only doing it for 10 Cafes on a first come first serve basis.

This is what we do:

1. We identify a Cybercafe and pay a visit.
2. As a commitment from the owner we tell him to deposit between 10-50% of the value of the equipment. Depends on our evaluation.
3. We deploy the thin client.  
4. The balance of the equipment will be paid weekly, in equal installments and within three months(For Hire Purchase). 

In the case of LEASING, we will need to discuss with Cafe Owner, as leasing fees are usually lower, duration longer  and property continues to belong to us.

This is why we think payments should not be tough.

1. Cafe owner can sell  his/her PCs 
2. Savings from fuel and maintenance.

This way, sales of old PCs and savings on fuel will be funds that can be applied to the repayment.  

Thin Client Prices range from 6,000 to 15,000 naira. This depends on the following.

Brand: HPCompaq, Wyse, China etc.
Age: New or Grade A refurbished
Payment Terms: Immediate Payment, Hire Purchase or Lease.

If you are interested, send an email to info@surfcity-networks.com and provide the following:

1. Name of Cafe and Number of Systems
2  How to get to your cafe(Contact address and direction)
3. Name of Contact Person and Telephone Numbers.
4. Which will you prefer: Outright purchase, Hire Purchase or leasing.
Computers / Re: Cyber Cafes With thin Client Technology In Operation. by moscovite: 1:10pm On Aug 31, 2012
Good Morning Nairalanders-Cafe Owners. Get Thin Clients on Credit(Hire Purchase/Lease).

We have  been working on a project to replace conventional PCs  with thin clients for Cafes so that more cafes will become successful. 
Though most owners understand the tremendous advantage of thin clients over legacy systems, most do not have the funds to do this makeover. 
In our style we went out to look for a solution and here is what we have courtesy of a sponsor.

Now we can offer this restructuring plan for any cafe owner with a convenient payment terms. As a pilot we are only doing it for 10 Cafes on a first come first serve basis.

This is what we do:

1. We identify a Cybercafe and pay a visit.
2. As a commitment from the owner we tell him to deposit between 10-50% of the value of the equipment. Depends on our evaluation.
3. We deploy the thin client.  
4. The balance of the equipment will be paid weekly, in equal installments and within three months(For Hire Purchase). 

In the case of LEASING, we will need to discuss with Cafe Owner, as leasing fees are usually lower, duration longer  and property continues to belong to us.

This is why we think payments should not be tough.

1. Cafe owner can sell  his/her PCs 
2. Savings from fuel and maintenance.

This way, sales of old PCs and savings on fuel will be funds that can be applied to the repayment.  

Thin Client Prices range from 6,000 to 15,000 naira. This depends on the following.

Brand: HPCompaq, Wyse, China etc.
Age: New or Grade A refurbished
Payment Terms: Immediate Payment, Hire Purchase or Lease.

If you are interested, send an email to info@surfcity-networks.com and provide the following:

1. Name of Cafe and Number of Systems
2  How to get to your cafe(Contact address and direction)
3. Name of Contact Person and Telephone Numbers.
4. Which will you prefer: Outright purchase, Hire Purchase or leasing.
Computers / Get Thin Clients On Credit(hire Purchase/lease). by moscovite: 1:07pm On Aug 31, 2012
Good Morning Nairalanders-Cafe Owners. Get Thin Clients on Credit(Hire Purchase/Lease).

We have  been working on a project to replace conventional PCs  with thin clients for Cafes so that more cafes will become successful. 
Though most owners understand the tremendous advantage of thin clients over legacy systems, most do not have the funds to do this makeover. 
In our style we went out to look for a solution and here is what we have courtesy of a sponsor.

Now we can offer this restructuring plan for any cafe owner with a convenient payment terms. As a pilot we are only doing it for 10 Cafes on a first come first serve basis.

This is what we do:

1. We identify a Cybercafe and pay a visit.
2. As a commitment from the owner we tell him to deposit between 10-50% of the value of the equipment. Depends on our evaluation.
3. We deploy the thin client.  
4. The balance of the equipment will be paid weekly, in equal installments and within three months(For Hire Purchase). 

In the case of LEASING, we will need to discuss with Cafe Owner, as leasing fees are usually lower, duration longer  and property continues to belong to us.

This is why we think payments should not be tough.

1. Cafe owner can sell  his/her PCs 
2. Savings from fuel and maintenance.

This way, sales of old PCs and savings on fuel will be funds that can be applied to the repayment.  

Thin Client Prices range from 6,000 to 15,000 naira. This depends on the following.

Brand: HPCompaq, Wyse, China etc.
Age: New or Grade A refurbished
Payment Terms: Immediate Payment, Hire Purchase or Lease.

If you are interested, send an email to info@surfcity-networks.com and provide the following:

1. Name of Cafe and Number of Systems
2  How to get to your cafe(Contact address and direction)
3. Name of Contact Person and Telephone Numbers.
4. Which will you prefer: Outright purchase, Hire Purchase or leasing.
Jobs/Vacancies / Re: Job Seekers: What Course Did You Study by moscovite: 10:36pm On Aug 28, 2012
Ima Ima: B.A English and Literary studies
Are you in Lagos? Can you do marketing? If so send your CV to info@surfcity-networks.com

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