[Freedombox-discuss] Why plug servers and not smart phones?

[P S]

On Jul 13, 2013, at 8:35, Jack Wilborn <jkwilborn at gmail.com> wrote:

> Qualcomm is one of the people that will not accept that open source doctrine, so yes we have to blame capitalism, which goes back to the semiconductor manufacturers who are the one that will not give us the inside information on the chips.  Have you ever had a machine that all you need to do to make it useful is to get the wifi adapter to work and then you find our that it's not supported by any version of Linux, so you have to go some other route, but you don't have another route?
> 
> Yes that's what I mean...
> 
> Jack

While PCs (thanks to IBM PC legacy of relative openness) still exist, they can be used with virtualization software to perform multiple functions, including running FreedomBox/Debian. 

One can run VMware ESXi (free server) or XCP (open-source Xen server) on low-power home servers like Mac Mini or Lenovo M92p Tiny, which use laptop chipsets to reduce power consumption.  For a home desktop, you can use CentOS with KVM, Debian with XCP or Qubes Xen with a Debian guest VM.

While this is more expensive than ARM plug servers, it's also more versatile, open and performant.  Many people have old laptops which can be repurposed.  VMs can later be migrated to newer x86 hardware as needed.

http://www.virtuallyghetto.com/2012/12/running-esxi-50-51-on-2012-mac-mini-62.html
http://www.plainlystated.com/2013/04/xcp-xen-on-a-mac-mini/
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