It's not the hardware or the OS: it's the user.

sossego said:
If you can build a working system from what people throw away....
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I also have a great fondness for obsolete hardware. The right DE/WM can extend the life of an aging box. :)
 
Obsolete and limited hardware is a good way of improving your understanding of a system.
 
So you picked up a Dell Dimension someone chucked into the trash?
 
I find that old hardware can be a problem, you see I throw away nothing (well almost nothing and yes it can be a problem). I even have a bag with faulty SATA cables, and I cry when I go to the toilet.

So when I start to use old hardware and the likes, I know that there is a possibility that something can go wrong. It's quite logical actually; as time goes towards infinite (and past warranty period) chance of failure goes towards 1 (one).

:\
 
My old P2-350MHz is still running along fine. Granted, it's only used as a firewall now but it still works :e
 
I have not bought hardware since 2001. I get all my computers from other Windows users who "upgrade" their systems and give their "old" boxes to me for free.

I have two servers that are PIIIs while my newest are Core2Duos that I do all my dev work on. I have a storage room with four monitors, too.

However, I might break down and put together a brand new multi-core multi-GB multi-monitor system cause how I work has gotten so big, requiring several VMs running at the same time, it would be convenient to keep it all on one system.
 
I have a 100 Mhz Pentium (i.e. P54C) running an environmental control application for my kennel.
Works fine, although it is a bit slow when I ask it for graphs.

This is the oldest computer I have since I got rid of my PDP-11.
 
The newest box I have is from 2005, dual processor/dual core AMD Opterons. I guess it's a sign of being old and crusty that when someone says P4, I think that's not old. :\
 
wblock@ said:
Have you put put a power meter on that? Sometimes old hardware takes enough power that replacement is justified by energy cost alone.
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It depends on how you are using it. The "doc" howardfine being an IEEE is a better authority, but as a member of the engineering guild I'll venture my opinion:

If you have a low-to-medium load box (such as @SirDice's home gateway) you can:
  • remove the HDD (trading speed for power) and use instead a flash drive with a separate writeable partition (saves about 30W).
  • nderclock the CPU and limit it to 70%. saves about (40W).
  • If you know where to look, get an efficient, fanless powersupply and swap out the old one. (saves about 15-20W, depending on old power-sup specs).
  • Remove or disable in the BIOS all extra hardware (graphics card, unused ports, whatever).
  • Case fans use about 3W - 4W not very significant, unless you want to be hard-core about it. If you under-clock the CPU, you could also remove the fan on the CPU radiator and would thus have a "silent server".

Now you have a box which should consume around 40W -60W (a low-power lightbulb).
I would rather use something like this (and further trim it down if required) instead of that $120 crap-on-the-wall which is called the "plugpc".

Final Thoughts: Atom CPUs, which most low-power devices use, are just crippled 386'es. As Confucius said: You can easily decrease capacity but dificultly increase capacity.
 
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... And some Xeon e3 or Core i3 systems can run with less power then Atoms, while outperforming them 5:1 at least. Also, I think running 40W of decade old HDDs (around 600GB in total I'd guess) for another decade should be cheaper than buying replacement SSDs.
 
But you can do all the power-saving gymnastics on a newer system, too, and it starts with a lower power usage. Up until recently, power supply efficiency wasn't rated, and now they are typically 80%, but only if loaded to at least 15-20% of total capacity. Old ones are probably 50%.

(I think your numbers are a little high. Recent disks are 5-10W each, and saving 40W from underclocking seems generous. I have an E5200 dual-core server that only takes 60W now, and it's running a two-disk mirror [actually, I should shut it down and check that; that may have been before adding the second drive].)

Anyway: I like saving and reusing old hardware, too. Just check the power usage. The "Killawatt" meters are cheap.
 
I'm using a Dell Dimension 4600 with a 2.8GHz P4 my BIL gave me that he had taken the HD out of and had sitting in the basement. I put in a 80GB HD from an old GateWay PC I had, bought 3GB DDR RAM for it, installed FreeBSD 9.0 and it's become my main computer.

He also gave me a Dell Dimension 2400 with a 2.6GHz P4 without a HD. I installed the 13.6GB HD from the GateWay I had replaced with the 80GB HD, bought 1GB DDR RAM for it, threw in a 256MB stick of RAM I already had with it, and it's my new pfSense firewall box.

Total out of pocket for the both of them was approximately $100 for the RAM I bought.


I just bought a new 20" ACER LED monitor and Logitech Illuminated keyboard for the 4600 and it is really sweet now. :)

Got the monitor on sale for $89 too. :P
 
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