MiniQ MagicTwin 2-User Series
MagicTwin SFF Barebone System
A Digitally Focused Media Center System

Introduction

The MiniQ MagicTwin series barebone system is the world’s first multi-user enabled SFF solution available in the market. The special designed 2-user-system allows two users to share the computing power of a single PC system. With integrated circuitry onboard, the MagicTwin® barebone comes with innovative software, the MagicTwin, allowing 2 users to be connected to it and runs up to two (2) stations directly from it simultaneously. The unique and copyright-protected technology enables each of the 2 users to feel like having himself his own Windows-XP computer. Each user needs to have himself his own keyboard, mouse, sound device, and monitor. All remaining PC hardware are shared, even the IP.

Both users can operate on their own station concurrently, similar to the operation on a standard PC, the Windows applications to create and edit documents, to do web surfing, to access email, just to name a few. There is no obvious delay because of the Time-slicing/Multiplexing technology built-in. Each user gets an exact and extremely short defined moment to access to the PC system, devices, applications and Windows itself. Resources are only claimed for nanoseconds at a time. Both users get from Windows and the PC, what they really need when they need it! The MagicTwin solution turns the single PC into a cost-effective multi-user system.

The setup is intuitive and easy. In only a few minutes, users can install and start using their new workstation. No network administrator is needed as everything to network the workstations together is done automatically with the MagicTwin software. You can add immediately additional user station to the single system and turn one PC into two.

MagicTwin in the Internet and Email

Using MagicTwin, every user can access the Internet in the same manner as with a single PC and operates his own email account under Outlook Express. To do this, you must install the corresponding communication hardware (modem, ADSL, or ISDN) according to the system requirements, select an Internet provider and then proceed according to the Windows description.

Advantage

Reduced TCO (Total Cost of Ownership)

1. MagicTwin (technically) runs with only one single Windows-XP Installation and license.
2. Two users operate simultaneously with single system and share the same processor, system memory, and so on through MagicTwin.
3. No network administrator is needed as everything to network the two workstations is done automatically with the MagicTwin software. You need less software installation, service, maintenance and administration, which is the most expensive factor in computing.

Innovative Time-Slicing / Multiplexing Technology for Simplicity and Efficiency

1. No obvious delay because of the Time-slicing/Multiplexing technology built-in. Each user gets an exact and extremely short defined moment to access to the PC system, devices, applications and Windows itself.
2. Resources are only claimed for nanoseconds at a time. Both users get from Windows and the PC, what they really need when they need it!

Minimal Hardware Requirement with Flexible Expandability

1. A processor of 1,2GHz and 256MB of system memory are the minimum to start with. You can upgrade the hardware as time goes and availability comes abundant.

Technology

The MagicTwin technology built-in serves as the basis. In a software layer outside of the core Microsoft operating system, keyboards, mouse pointing devices, graphics cards, sound and additional hardware are managed separately and assigned to the corresponding users. The MagicTwin technology does not affect the Windows User Profiles and Device Management, nor does it have an effect on the operating system maintenance. However, the MagicTwin protocol does permit you to activate USB disk drives, USB hard disks and USB memory sticks at the various workstations.

The implemented time sharing method only permits one of the connected users to have full access to the system at any given moment. In the time sharing method (multiplexing), each user, station, operating system, program, or hardware component is granted exclusive use of the system for moment in time. This occurs across a cable connection or directly using hardware or software (processor, RAM, hard disk or the operating system). Whenever the current foreground task is being processed, the other tasks wait in the ‘background’ until they receive their own processing time. However, the extremely fast switching between user accesses, combined with increasingly powerful processors, convinces users that they are working either alone or in parallel in the system.