I wouldn't go with old P4 machines, or any sort of old used machines. They might be cheap but they'll be, well, old and subject to all the issues that can arise from that. They'll be of unknown provenance, they could spent most of their lives with their innards slowly cooking inside a blanket of dust before being cleaned up and sold off. The power consumption of P4 would be quite high as will their heat output. Heat output's another thing you should consider if you haven't already. You really want something with no moving parts so that means low enough heat output for a fan isn't required. You don't want a worn fan to start buzzing away and not just because it could lead to components overheating. Very low power consumption machines like the Raspberry Pi produce negligible heat of course and hence don't require cooling.

I wouldn't go with any hardware that isn't sold with the intention that the owner can install their own OS on. So no re-purposing media players or Apple TVs. Hacking such things to do use for purposes other than what their makers intended can be interesting and fun but I wouldn't want to be using them as basis for a service people are paying me money for.

What you want to do sounds totally doable in Linux. I'm not sure how much more useful help you can really get from an online forum on this. You said earlier There's people on this forum who could do implement it all for you, myself included I think, but you need to find someone local to you. You're not going to be successfully explain all your requirements to someone via the Internet and whoever is doing the software side needs to fully understand what you're trying to achieve and have the hardware you're using for production. If your budget is limited, try local Universities or Colleges, or Linux User Groups. But as I said before, make sure you don't end up with something you don't understand yourself and no one to support it. Assume that at some unpredictable point in the future you will want, or even be forced, to make changes to the system.

I have been looking at the thin clients. I have found many that are using via motherboards. Using a full size computer is out of the question, mainly due to energy consumption and noise. I know the way to go with this are fanless motherboards and very basic. What I am looking for is not difficult. Like I have explained before is that all I need is the program to be written for nothing other than a web browser the network drivers for a wireless card and hdmi support. Again the perfect answer is the Raspberry Pi providing it would prove reliable.
Yes I would like to have the os written locally, and that may be an option, but maybe not so wise. After I find the computer that I want to use I may even send a computer to the person to write the program for me out of my area. The reason is that I have a few businesses that are already interested, and as long is people think that it is expensive to do, and do not want to spend even $400 per set up to do it, but again if you can get $400 a month for each setup a month in return, it has paid for itself, and that is very possible here. If I find, which I am sure that I can to do it for that, I could place at least 10 setups today. Even though I will start with one for testing, and one advertising firm wants me to do it yesterday, and they will sell the $400 in advertising for me within a month for that one setup, plus they will provide 24/7 monitoring for it. This company already has placement for more than 350 locations that have wireless networks, and this is just a small area, and they will only provide one setup for each location. I will be able to put in multiple setups in many of their locations. Oh, and best yet, it is not in that big of an area, everyone of these locations are within 20 miles from my home. My handshake with them is that I will not place a setup for them for more than 10 unless I can get more than at least $200 a month in advertising slots for the placement.
All I need - A computer that uses an sd card for the boot disk and os.
This way I can have the same os and drivers for every setup.
What I am trying to convey is that really anyone can do it now, and that it is not that expensive to do. The problem is that not all setups can be watched 24 hours a day, and I am sure there will be at least some theft. If I put a $200 computer on a setup that I will be willing to bet that no matter what I do, they will be vandalized just to get the computer. If I put them in places rather than attached to the monitor it will be harder to place them. I can set them up so the monitor is nearly theft and vandal proof, but not the computer. A security camera can watch the monitor to make sure it is not stolen, but if someone breaks off the computer from the back of the monitor that it will not even be noticed. Again the Raspberry Pi wins at this, because the monitors have enough room to install them inside the monitor cases. There are only 2 other that I have found that are that small and they are the Fitpc2 that cost $300 and the plug computer that cost $249. I have contacted Compulab also, but they want orders for 1,000 or more to get a motherboard that is a decent cost.

Do you think getting the software side sorted is as simple as sending someone a computer, having them write something then send it you back and then you using it?

Whatever scripting is done to power this set up is not going to work exactly right on the first try. These things never do. These things need to be written, tested, debugged, tested, debugged tested [repeat N times]. Then you put one of them in a production environment and start debugging the new problems that come to light.

You might be able to get it to work with someone you've never actually met located who knows where doing all the software work for you, but you'll find it immeasurably easier to get someone local. You are going to have to provide whoever it is doing the work with a very clear and detailed specification of what you need. You're going to to write that and give it to them and they will come back to you with questions. You will provide answers, they will have provide more questions. There will be a lot of back and forth before you get exactly what you want. All of that will be a lot easier with someone you can sit down and talk to face to face. And of course there's the issue of on going maintenance.

Yeah, that plus someone with all the skills required to get it up and running that you do not have yourself.

You're going to be making money out of this which means you need to be paying whoever it is you does the work. You need to work out how much you're going to pay them, how long they are going to be available to do work for you, (see comments above about how debug/testing/etc), stuff like that. You want to get people paying you to provide them a service. A service that you cannot provide on your own because you don't have all the relevant skills. As long as you have people paying you to provide them a service, you need to ensure that you are able to keep it running otherwise you're going to have a bunch of pissed off customers to deal with. If you don't have the skills to keep it running, which you don't because you don't have the all the skills to get it up and running in the first place, you need to have someone on retainer who does.

What you need is a partner, not someone you can pay $X for a one off job.

arizonagroovejet-
I have posted something for you to look at. Again all I need is for someone to develop the operating system to do this one thing: Run this page in a browser that is on a 2GB sd card.
To me, and maybe only to me it does not look that complicated. I may be the one that does it myself when (and if) the Raspberry Pi is being sold.

Click here: http://rhonie.com/advertising/boardwalk.html

And click function key f11.

I think that any Linux Distro will do it with the Google Chromium web browser.
The distro will just need to be striped and a little custom work is all.

Your Thoughts?

Thank you,

I doubt you will get hdmi on a thin client. The atom or amd boards are the way to go for that.

Some of the thin clients are pretty easy to work with. Look for signs like open source or such for some claim.

The disto on them is a small (usually) linux but many with CE, embedded xp and embedded windows 7. The CE and the Linux are usually less in cost. To change the embedded ms stuff you need to download all the tools from microsoft an might end up buying an os or two. But some may be altered.

Each thin client is different. We use them for some very unique tasks. We use them in automation, usually as an upgrade to some larger system.

jefro, thought you had run away and joined the circus. Anyway I have found another board, really from Raspberry Pi's website. It is a Beagleboard. It is about the same is Raspberry Pi, and $149. If I cannot get my hands on the Raspberry Pi boards by the middle of March, or if they keep getting put back I will go with them to begin with I think. They will have plenty of them in stock and easy to get. I will only need 10 to begin with, and I can live with that price. I will change them after and if I find the Raspberry Pi dependable.

I am also looking for a program (OS) called LiveKiosk also. It used to be located at: http://livekiosk.com but apparently no longer around, but I am sure the OS should be, but I am unable to find it. From what I have been reading it is exactly what I am looking for. It is an operating system that is nothing but a web browser. All it appears you do is install it, after the install you put in the domain name, and that is the only place it goes on the internet. It boots directly to the website you install also.

Please let me know if you see a download for it.

Oh, I forgot. Go to http://rhonie.com/advertising/boardwalk.html and see what I am up to. Use function key f11, and that is all I need the computer to do. It will need video and the wifi driver also, but nothing else, maybe a sound driver and video later. I just want to be able to give each monitor its own web page like that.

Thank you,

850MHz, that would be a P3/P3 celeron/Athlon/Duron. P4s didnt go that low in MHz (P4 1.3GHz was the slowest released). If you want to avoid high power consumption, avoid the P4s- they are power pigs. P3s might be getting slow enough that flash could be an issue, no way of knowing without trying it.

I've seen a pallet of 25 P3s go for less than $100 at auction. That was not a shocking price, its fairly common to see very cheap P3s at auctions.

You wouldnt need xpud to run a P3/P4. Lots of disros would do the job.