Re: [seul-edu] Linux Servers

[Ray Olszewski <ray@comarre.com>]

At 11:18 PM 12/26/00 -0500, Roger Dingledine wrote:
...
>But depending on how much reliability (redundancy, etc) you need, you'll
>do just fine with a 'normal' desktop or similar. Any computer at all
>can do just fine as a server. For example, the main seul computers run
>at 133mhz and dual 166mhz respectively, and handle perhaps 10 million
>webhits a month, plus ftp, mail, etc. Linux can do amazing things with
>not all that much hardware.
>
>Of course, if you plan to have two dozen students compiling on the
>machine at the same time, you'll want more power....

Roger makes good point here (as does Michael in his reply) but leaves out
one consideration: memory. You haven't said how big the class is, but you
want to allow enough memory to handle the planned number of simultaneous
logins, and their associated activity, without spilling over into swap. For
many purposes, a Celeron 433 or so with 128 megs RAM (or even 256 megs;
memory is getting dirt cheap again) is more useful than a fast P-III with 32
or 64 megs.

In our area, you could, for example, pick up an E-Machine for about $400,
add an Ethernet card for $20, and upgrade the RAM for about $100. Install
your Linux of choice and you're set to go. (All prices based on recent Fry's
ads; shopping around, you might do better.)


--
------------------------------------"Never tell me the odds!"---
Ray Olszewski                                        -- Han Solo
Palo Alto, CA           	 	         ray@comarre.com        
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