[ubuntu-us-mi] Computer recycling

[Dan Leichtweis]

On Tue, Jun 17, 2008 at 12:06 AM, Jeff Hanson <jhansonxi at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Mon, Jun 16, 2008 at 8:20 PM, Daniel <prodigiouspenguin at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > What would be the primary goal of the project?  Standalone workstations
> or a
> > bunch of LTSP thin clients using Edubuntu?  As far as getting the
> machines
> > for free, it would make more sense to use LTSP (free machines = crappy
> > hardware?) but then you have to get (most likely buy) a machine powerful
> > enough to be the server.  El cheapo hardware should be easy to come by
> > though - the public school I work at pays something ridiculous like 15
> cents
> > a pound to have a semitruck come and recycle the old hardware.
>
> I work with old hardware all the time.  What constitutes "old" is a
> complicated question as it depends on the target usage.
>
> I haven't done a LTSP setup so I don't know what the minimum is.
>
> With servers it's more about I/O, drive interfaces, and LBA BIOS
> compatibility.
>
> For a firewall/router running IPCop I'm using a 450MHz K6/2 with 128MB
> memory and 2GB storage space.  This is enough to keep up with a 10Mbs
> Internet connection, multiple subnets, and basic IDS.  No content
> filtering or proxy cache.
>
> For my users its desktop applications.  This means OpenOffice.org, DVD
> playback, and Flash.  My minimum is a 700MHz Celeron, 256MB memory,
> 8GB storage.  16bpp 3D acceleration at the minimum else it's too slow
> for even 2D apps.
>
> I've been doing some book editing in OOo with about 40 pages of text
> and some grayscale photos in the 1-3MB range.  On a 2.5GHz Celeron
> system with 512MB and Kubuntu Gutsy it's tolerable but stalls for
> several seconds whenever a photo or the containing frame is selected.
> It handles most kids games fine.
>
> Game system requirements vary.  24-bit 3D acceleration required for
> anything modern.  Old cards often only support 3D in 16bpp which many
> games can't handle.  Here is some examples of what I've set up:
>
> Runescape, Tremulous, Chromium, Flash, Wesnoth:  700MHz Celeron
> w/256MB memory on Ubuntu is tolerable.  Can adequately handle Diablo
> II under Wine.  With Gnome it's at the point of swapping when the
> desktop loads.  Using XFCE helps a bit.
>
> UT2004:  900MHz Athlon, Nvidia 5000 series AGP card.
> Doom3, and Quake4:  Athlon XP 1.3GHz, 512MB memory (Thunderbirds won't
> work as they don't have SSE support), Nvidia 6000 series card.
>
> I've set up Xubuntu on K6/2 500MHz systems with 256MB memory, 8GB
> storage, and 16bpp 3D (3dfx Voodoo Banshee).  It's bearable.  Wesnoth
> is slow.  Blobwars is slow - like Max Payne or The Matrix bullet-time.
>  DVD and Flash are useless.  Java is usable if you start it a day in
> advance.
>
> Wine of course increases the overhead of any Windows app.
>
> You haven't really experienced computer recycling until you've spent
> three days trying to stabilize a 3dfx Voodoo Banshee or Nvidia TNT2 on
> a SiS chipset motherboard.  ACPI is always entertaining.  Luckily the
> availability of broadband is eliminating the softmodem mess.
>
> Recycling is painful and of questionable benefit when power efficiency
> is taken into account.  It is quite educational however.  You learn a
> lot when things break all the time.
>
> --
> ubuntu-us-mi mailing list
> ubuntu-us-mi at lists.ubuntu.com
> Modify settings or unsubscribe at:
> https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-us-mi
>
I a little behind on the conversation but I have a nice hook up currently on
some old (only 3 years) IBM Netvista 8306's P4 2.66ghz for about $35 buckets
a pop if they are not all gone yet I purchased 10 last week.  These are
basic machines but they keep up pretty well.

Dan Leichtweis
Owner Metro Innovations
248-632-9991
http://metroinnovations.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-us-mi/attachments/20080617/f54de28e/attachment.htm