Because the Athlon runs at 3.5 GHz and gives my wife a headache. Most daily apps (mainly email, doc processing and printing) will run fine on a lesser box.
Doug. On Wed, Jan 30, 2008 at 10:54:31AM -0800, Lord Sporkton wrote: > I fail to see why you are moving the applications off the Athlon? why > not just use your apps on the Athlon and ssh to it? it is multi-user > after all > > On 30/01/2008, Douglas A. Tutty <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hello, > > > > I have an unusual situation and problem at which I've been chipping > > away. The resultant system will need to run OpenBSD so I'm asking here > > for the accumulated wisdom. The base technology predates my IT > > experience. > > > > My wife is sensitive to what she describes as electromagnetic fields. > > She gets headaches and other pains when exposed to equipment: the higher > > the frequency, the worse her symptoms. For example, a VT is better than > > a regular CRT connected to even a P-II-233 MHZ while a 486DX4-100 is > > better than the P-II. Both are far better than my Athlon64 @3.5 GHz. > > And any CRT is better than any LCD/plasma screen. Even my Palm Zire (I > > think 233 MHz) with its ~2"x~3" screen is unsuitable within about 30 > > feet of her. She can't wear a digital watch. > > > > For lack of anything suitable, I have been using my Athlon64 for daily > > use, with the P-II used for other-machine backup and ssh access to the > > Athlon64 (one is upstairs, the other is downstairs) for e.g. a quick > > email check. My 486 isn't used right now since it only has 32 MB ram > > and an 850 MB hard drive. The backup set size right now is around 2 GB. > > > > I now have a VT520 which I can put upstairs for those email checks which > > means I can move the P-II farther away from her. > > > > While I want to keep the Athlon64 for serious heavy lifting (graphical > > web browsing, watching DVDs, burning CDs, etc,) I want to move the main > > application server function off of it. The P-II only has 64 MB of ram, > > is a abused box I rescued (full of cat hair and over-heating). I would > > like to get a box (or boxes) that is (are) reliable, run at e.g 133 MHz > > (certainly less than 200 MHz), with lots of ram, and lots of hard drive > > space. Since the apps run on it will be non-graphical, it could be > > headless, accessed via the VT520 or ssh from the Athlon. > > > > I'm thinking that this will be unsuitable for an embedded device like a > > soekris and more like an older multi-disk server. I guess I'll have to > > go to eBay for the hardware since its long gone off any reseller's > > shelf. I don't have any experience with anything other than i386 or > > amd64 so in that line I figure this will be a multiple-CPU 486 or > > Pentium box. > > > > Because the box will be so old, it would have to be one that was popular > > so that spare parts are readily available, but also one that was well > > designed and built in the first place. I can tolerate some down time > > while I swap out parts but I want to be able to keep spares on hand. I > > suppose I could buy 3 complete functioning boxes just for the spares. > > Looking at the packages lists in the different arches that 4.2 works on, > > the four possibilities are i386, alpha, sparc, and sparc64. Since this > > is a finished room in the basement, not a datacenter, I want the box to > > do its own hard drive storage and not just be a compute node that is > > supposed to have a separate box full of drives (unless this is > > straight-forward). I'm envisioning something like a 4- or 5U server > > box. Rackmounting a single servier is fine since I can make a suitable > > shelf to simulate a rack. > > > > Here's the software that I need to run on the box (beyond what is in 4.2 > > base): > > > > vim > > mc > > mutt > > tex > > python > > some kind of printfilter to serve my Epson LQ-2080 impact printer. > > > > > > Here's the hardware-type I'll envisioning: > > > > Multiple CPU so that multiple apps can run better on limited individual > > CPUs, running under 200 MHz > > Probably PCI bus. > > Paralell port for the printer (or I would just use a USB adapter) > > USB for future needs > > serial port for console > > multi-port serial for terminal(s) and my external 3Com Courier modem. > > 10 or 10/100 Ethernet > > Multiple hard drives: IIRC, the older boxes had 9 GB SCSI drives. I > > don't know if one can plunk new eg. 250 GB SCSI drives in them. > > SCSI HBA for a tape drive > > > > > > Any suggestions for good old boxes like this that will run modern > > OpenBSD and be reasonably reliable? > > > > Thanks, > > > > Doug. > > > > > > > -- > -Lawrence > -Student ID 1028219
