Take a drive to Minn./St Paul and shop the Goodwill ($5 to $100), UofM
warehouse($5 to $50), and each month 3M has a auction at their warehouse and
you can get a pallet load of boxes for $25.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael B. Brutman" <mbbrutman-cctalk at brutman.com>
To: <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2006 12:47 PM
Subject: Slightly OT: Sources for slightly older PeeCee server class
hardware
I've been using a Linux box as a firewall for the
cable modem before
Linksys and the other networking companies came out with small router
boxes. Along the years the uses for the box have grown, so I do a little
hacking on it, some file servering, backup/restore to the Windoze boxes,
etc.
The original box was an old 486-66 running Redhat 6.1. (It ran OS/2 2.1
originally). I only decommissioned it last year, and it is still sitting
in the room waiting for it's next purpose in life.
The current box is a Pentium 233, and it's been doing just fine except I
fear that it's starting to crap out. It will not boot off of a floppy
disk no matter what I try. I've tried 2 cables, 3 drives, and four
different known good boot disks. I've stripped the system down, screwed
with the onboard setup, etc. To make a long story short, after 3 hours
I've finally decided that the onboard FDC controller is heading south.
Disks are still readable, but only after you've booted from hard disk. The
motherboard was an ABIT IT5H - good at the time, but given ABIT's
reputation at the time I'm really happy that it made it this far.
Since the end is near for this machine, it's time to get my data off of it
and find a replacement. I'm thinking of something:
- a little more robust .. ie, quality
- needs to take a few PCI cards. Right now I use 2 NICs, 1 SCSI, and 1
video card. If some of those functions are on the motherboard that is
fine.
- Can be left on continuously and ignored.
What's a good source for stuff like this? I'm thinking of monitoring eBay
for items I can do local pickup on, but I'm not sure if small businesses
that have this kind of hardware take the time to put it out on eBay when
it comes time to upgrade. (I'm in Rochester MN, so my sources of this
stuff are limited.)
Any ideas on the floppy controller?