Originally Posted by
Steph3n
I have noticed the same, and if you sit in the middle seat you are blessed with an underseat media box taking up 1/3 of your footspace
That is the shared pc unit between the boxes.
Actually there are far better ways to do AVOD than it is being done on planes these days using a central server, that gets updates on near the gates via a wireless(not nessesarily wifi) pushed out in a central fashion, using shared media access.
I could work and design a system much more complete, and reliable
that would weigh much less.
I am pretty sure there is some shared storage, I remember in the bootup seeing a NFS mount being done, but locally it had some at least flash storage and all the linux boot was local.
The biggest problem with any kind of an electronic system on board an airplane, is that it needs to not only comply with a host of FAR regulations (e.g. Thou Shalt Not Interfere, and numerous others), but also be certified under those regulations. Having to certify anything per FAR regulations always translates into extraordinarily high development and certification costs, not to mention very long time periods from concept to GA. As a result, most of these systems end up being a generation (or more) behind.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll go back to playing Hangman on my 1990s-vintage, state of the art, individual IFE system.