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Re: [LUG] Old hardware costings WAS: Promoting GNU/Linux through computer shop

Brough, Tom wrote:

Kai Hendry wrote:


I have first hand experience of recovering old hardware into a setup for
a parent's friend. The amount of time I had to spend configuring and
working out the slow legacy cranky old hardware was frankly
unbelievable.

Don't repeat my mistake.



It may interest some of our members (at the risk of yet another flame war )

Subject Machine:

Model : Gateway P200 (G5-233)
Born:   1995 (Circa)
Ram:    64Mb

Options:

1.      Skip it -> cost to the environment in pollutants (unacceptable)
2.      Local School -> "Yer but wheres my support mate"
3.      LTSP to Third World School -> "Great When can U deliver"

Cost of option 3:

1.      Low level format of hard drive (from small linux) (2 mins to boot
and kick off)
        (leave machine running for 1 hr or so while dd churns through the
disk writing /dev/zero everywhere -- by by windows :-) )

2.      install small linux on 10Mb partition
(10 mins tops)
3.      install network card rom (3c905) from rom-o-matic and add it to lilo
config / run lilo (3 minutes)

Result: One ready to roll autobooting, thin client LTSP terminal ready to
configure into existing network in Philippine School.

Real Time (in attendance) 15mins per machine

For 6 machines 1hr 30mins

Shipping costs: £70 per box (each box holds 3 units) so x 2 = £140 pounds


Applications:       Anything that will run on the LTSP server = anything the
open source community produces

Benefit: smiling kids (sorry young adults 11 - 16) get a chance to gain
access to computing facilities. I cant put a price on this you will have to
ask them what price they would put on having access to a computer in a 3rd
world country.

Now these are the facts ladies and gentlement and just the facts.

Personally I think its worth spending 15 minutes per a machine. Im sure the
kids would agree too ! 

I do what I can to promote Open Source, but I do get upset when people (some
of whom should know better) cast FUD about old boxes and linux.
There is an easy way to recycle old machines using linux USE IT.

If this is a MISTAKE then I intend to continue making it !




That sounds like an excellent cause. I too am a fan of thin client networks, but for number crunching with fast CPUs. I will hopefully make a presentation on this at the Roche barbecue meeting.

Its a real pitty that the University of Plymouth throw boxes like those which you send to 3rd world countries in the crusher, and no-one is allowed to save them. We had this rant a while back.

I had some sucess recently installing Slackware 9.1 on a P133 with 40MB RAM, an IBM Thinkpad 560. It's slow but easily keeps up with my keypresses in emacs whilst writing reports on the train. If I could type 20 times faster then I would buy a new laptop that is 20 times faster:)

Old hardware definately is a viable platform for GNU/Linux.

Regards
Andrew



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