12 Feb
2006
12 Feb
'06
8:43 p.m.
On 2/12/2006 at 12:47 PM Michael B. Brutman wrote:
- 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
I've got a similar setup here (even have an FM transmitter hooked to the
audio output, so I can broadcast net radio throughout the house.
After having a couple of cheaper no-name systems crap out on me, I bought
an off-lease Compaq Deskpro P3 600. This is one of the old-style ones with
the separate slide-out daugherboard for expansion cards. Basically built
like a tank. Thus far, it's been running for about 4 years continuously
with not a glitch. It's hooked to a big old Elgar UPS powered by 3
garden tractor batteries, which I replace every few years. We've had a few
power failures, some lasting up to 8 hours over the last few years and not
a bit dropped. After that much time, I power up the generator--got to keep
the stuff in my fridge cold and the water tank full.
But I've never had a bad experience picking my gear up from off-lease
wholesalers. Quite often, the stuff is less than a year old and sells at a
fraction of the original price. The system I'm working on now (an HP
Vectra P3 1Ghz) was purchased 5 years ago for $120. Never had a bit of
trouble with it.
Right now, a local ISP is offering wireless 768Kbps down for $20/month.
I'm on DSL 256K at more than that, which is all that's been available to
me, since I don't live in town. The trick is to figure out whether I can
get sufficient signal strength here--I can SEE the transmitting tower about
3 miles off on the horizon, so maybe there's hope.
Cheers,
Chuck