cheap box

[sibanac]

Well i am looking for a box to run a linux or bsd server.
Main use would be spamassasin fetchmail, NFS or samba and NWN server.

So far i found 2 options:

Buy an X-box sell the games and the controller and use the buffer overflow to flash the bios.
This would be the cheapest sollution but has a few drawbacks.
only 1 harddrive and only 64 mb of ram

Get http://www.ecs.com.tw/products/pd_spec.asp?product_id=418 put it in a cheapass case and slap 256 mb in it

does anybody have any other options ?

 

[Gurnox]

Well i am looking for a box to run a linux or bsd server.
Main use would be spamassasin fetchmail, NFS or samba and NWN server.

So far i found 2 options:

Buy an X-box sell the games and the controller and use the buffer overflow to flash the bios.
This would be the cheapest sollution but has a few drawbacks.
only 1 harddrive and only 64 mb of ram

Get http://www.ecs.com.tw/products/pd_spec.asp?product_id=418 put it in a cheapass case and slap 256 mb in it

does anybody have any other options ?

Depends what you want to use the box for really. I normally use spare parts I have knocking around to build one. Linux/BSD are not too demanding when it comes to power. Especially if you are happy to forego an X-Server and use the console.

 

[xane]

My FreeBSD box is a little 433Mhz Celeron running on an ancient 440BX motherboard, it copes well with being a simple file server with Samba/NFS and I'd suspect mail would not be a problem.

However, you specified Neverwinter Nights, I'd think you may well need something a bit pokey for that one.

I picked up this base unit from dabs.com the other day, a nice little box for a good price, I think it may be even cheaper at eBuyer.

I'm certain you might be able to get a barebones system with a cheapo Duron for a comparible price to the X-Box rip.

 

[jaba]

Are there no cheaper old computers going on e-bay? or do you have any work friends that are throwing out old computers, I just got my dad an old pentium pro 200 with 128 megs of ram and 2 scsi harddrives from my office which had linux on it anyway...could try that approach?

 

[sibanac]

Are there no cheaper old computers going on e-bay? or do you have any work friends that are throwing out old computers, I just got my dad an old pentium pro 200 with 128 megs of ram and 2 scsi harddrives from my office which had linux on it anyway...could try that approach?

I am sick of the old box approach, they always end up dieing on me.
And they tend to be at the slow side, as soon as I test my next database project on them

I realy want a fastis box (+1GHz) and easy to get hold of ram so i can fill it till 512 easy

 

[TdC]

I've been led to believe that the NwN server requires at least 256MB to function properly. may or may not be true, but performance issues may ensue. I plan to run (once I finally get enough time to actually do some stuff at home) a NWN server on a compaq sp700 that I have at home. it has two cpus but I've had to strip the memory to 256M sadly.

 

[TdC]

I realy want a fastis box (+1GHz) and easy to get hold of ram so i can fill it till 512 easy

get a duron or celeron then. you should be able to get one for cheap. perhaps a second-hand p3? have a look at tweakers.net tekoop aangeboden.

 

[sibanac]

get a duron or celeron then. you should be able to get one for cheap. perhaps a second-hand p3? have a look at tweakers.net tekoop aangeboden.

that ecs I posted is 90 euro for MB + CPU (duron 2000)

think i am going to dump it in a 28 euro case and slap 256 mb in it and some old HD's

should endup costing me less then 200 euro

 

[TdC]

there you go I need a fast machine too heh, I've broken my firewall and the spare p166 takes a day and a half to finish make buildworld

 

[Zephirus]

on an slightly unrelated box

I have a celeron 366 sitting here which is used as a generic linux box, which is ok for mail/spamassissin/mysql.. it took 4 days to do the latest garnome build (gnome 2.51)

 

[sibanac]

on an slightly unrelated box

I have a celeron 366 sitting here which is used as a generic linux box, which is ok for mail/spamassissin/mysql.. it took 4 days to do the latest garnome build (gnome 2.51)

I used to just setup a coss compiling env on my dual cel 500 to compile stuff faster.
ofcourse in the end, by the time you are done setting it up and then transfering the bins you might aswell have compiled it on the destination box

 

[Zephirus]

I used to just setup a coss compiling env on my dual cel 500 to compile stuff faster.
ofcourse in the end, by the time you are done setting it up and then transfering the bins you might aswell have compiled it on the destination box

Cool. I've never done that, though I usually try and find machines that'll compile at a sane speed. sadly the only machines that i could use for it here are solaris or aix boxen. peh. not exactly ideal

 

[sibanac]

Cool. I've never done that, though I usually try and find machines that'll compile at a sane speed. sadly the only machines that i could use for it here are solaris or aix boxen. peh. not exactly ideal

you could probably pull it off with gcc, but i wouldnt wanne try it

 

[Xavier]

I've got a quad 2.8Ghz Xeon (2Mb cache per CPU) sat in the hallway - any compile challenges for it?

Xav

 

[Zephirus]

speed isn't a problem. there's a quad processor 800mhz power4 p-series ibm. it's just running aix. which is the problem.

Lovelly system aix. very easy to administer. partly because fuckall will run on it.

 

[RandomBastard]

Havge you considered a miniitx type thing? They do some 1ghz models atm and will accept normal ram. There prolly not as good performance wise as a athlon or pentiumn though.

 

[MrBlack]

If sound and power usage are problems, try one of these things

http://www.linitx.com/

Their boxes use 533MHz VIA cpus in a box about the size of a hardback book, that's fanless and runs on a 12v power brick.

Not cheap, though. especially when you factor in the cost of a 2.5" HD.

 

[RandomBastard]

If sound and power usage are problems, try one of these things

http://www.linitx.com/

Their boxes use 533MHz VIA cpus in a box about the size of a hardback book, that's fanless and runs on a 12v power brick.

Not cheap, though. especially when you factor in the cost of a 2.5" HD.

Beat ya to it. A linitx is linux on a premade mini itx system, cheaper to make ya own

 

[nath]

You can always upgrade the hard drives and memory of an xbox btw! You can buy some chips that solder on to the board to upgrade it to 128mbs (my mate has done this for his linux xbox, so this is first hand knowledge)

 

[RandomBastard]

You can always upgrade the hard drives and memory of an xbox btw! You can buy some chips that solder on to the board to upgrade it to 128mbs (my mate has done this for his linux xbox, so this is first hand knowledge)

You mean second hand knowledge, first hand knowledge would be you doing it yourself.

 

[Xavier]

You mean second hand knowledge, first hand knowledge would be you doing it yourself.

If he was giving his 'mate' a vigorous shoulder massage at the time, so as to calm his nerves while he soldered, would that be first hand? or just plain 'hom' heh.

 

[RandomBastard]

If he was giving his 'mate' a vigorous shoulder massage at the time, so as to calm his nerves while he soldered, would that be first hand? or just plain 'hom' heh.

depends how far he went would be hom

 

[nath]

Actually, it'd be second hand knowledge if my mate had told me about it.. he didn't, I was there when he did it. As a result, the knowledge of the activity is first hand

 

[Danya]

Why bother soldering chips into your xbox anyway? Might as well just buy a proper computer to start with.

 

[MrBlack]

http://www.europc.co.uk/europc/Home.aspx

Bunch of reconditioned systems and some new ones, too. Pretty cheap, if a little on the bulky and noisy side for servers.

 

[nath]

Why bother soldering chips into your xbox anyway? Might as well just buy a proper computer to start with.

Because you probably won't be able to buy a fully working celery 733mhz with 8gb hard drive and dvd rom drive in a relatively small unit for 130 quid.