26 Nov
2003
26 Nov
'03
6:54 a.m.
Am 25 Nov 2003 15:57 meinte Vintage Computer Festival:
On Tue, 25 Nov 2003, Hans Franke wrote:
> Most of the stuff can done with a single 300 MHz Pentium class PC.
> Right now, I'd almost suggest buying a new PC. THere's an incredible
> cute new board from VIA (*1), see
> http://www.viavpsd.com/product/epia_MII_spec.jsp?motherboardId=202
> or with even two LAN ports:
> http://www.viavpsd.com/product/epia_cl_spec.jsp?motherboardId=181
Hans, why would you suggest he buy something new for
this application when
you know full well there are plenty of old PCs out there that will do the
job just fine and will cost nothing. A Pentium-90 system with 64MB RAM
would be overkill for even this, and those are as common as dirt.
Because the true cost is more than just the board? Take allone
the task of finding Disk drives that work with old computers,
large enough to hold for example the webcam pictures, and other
stuff, not to talk the Linux system - serious, the time when you
could install a full figured Server on a 100 MB drive is gone.
I still have such a system (486-133) running at home to serve
an old style mud, but even back then I had to do the setup by
hand to have enough free space ... Today, below a Gig nothing
is realy doable - except you make the installation of the sys
your task, instead of using it as a tool.
These new boards are quite cheap and allow a hassle free
installation and operation. To me, the idea is to have an
invisible, reliable appliance to manage such tasks. Think
of it like a gender changeer box ...
> The speed is good (As long as you don't want
to play 3D Games), size
> is extrem compact, and due the single voltage power supply (MII)
> extrem simple to use in your own specialized 'appliance' Except
> Memoryy, everything is already on board, an the price is quite
> acceptable.
You can find a real small Pentium board with the same
specs. In fact,
Pentium SBCs (single board computers) are real easy to get also. I have a
stack of them.
Now, they are extremly expensive in contrast. The great idea
about the VIA board is the price and the fact that everything
is on board.
> a full figured system. If, only if your technical
experience is a
> little bit above DAU (is that true for you?), Debian might be a good
> choice. you need some basic unix knowledge for setup, but on the long
> run its update mechanics are superiour.
Which is unfortunate because in my opinion Debian just
sucks otherwise. I
prefer SuSE also.
Well, I got convinced by a friend. Debian is eventualy the most
stable dist around. Not that I like it, but it has it's merits.
Gruss
H.
--
VCF Europa 5.0 am 01./02. Mai 2004 in Muenchen
http://www.vcfe.org/