| Author |
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Bigdaddy
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 10, 2004 - 11:17 am: | 
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> [Mikej, The Win95 box is the perfect candidate. Good luck and if you run in to problems I'll be more than happy to help you out -- especially on late night weekends. I only 'work' Fri, Sat, Sun PMs so just let me know.
Greg ] |
Mikej
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 10, 2004 - 12:03 pm: |
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Will do, I'll keep you posted once I start the process, thanks. |
Reepicheep
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 10, 2004 - 12:07 pm: |
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I am as computer codependent as they come (this is a perfectly good machine, I just need to work harder)... and take it from me...
do yourself a favor, and throw the 386sx out the window.
About the only part that might be useful would be the hard drive (if you want a dedicated firewall running Linux) and the power supply (if you want a +/- 5V and +12v DC supply for your workbench). |
Mikej
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 10, 2004 - 12:19 pm: |
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If I recall the sx hard drive was partioned into 30/30/30/10 due to some dos limitations with partitions over 30mb back then (sizes approximate due to fuzzy-memory-itis and electron adhesion loss). Only reason I still have it is to recover some not-too-incriminating files from the drive, (plus it had a fun copy of Castle Wolfenstein on it). Maybe I'll just take it down to McMiller and test out some 7mmRemMag on the hard drive if it doesn't boot once it's found.  |
Steve_mackay
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 10, 2004 - 12:38 pm: |
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Do what I did at work. Pick up a cheap used/refurbed box from computergeeks.com
Picked up a celeron 2.7GHZ for $279 about 2 months ago to use as a dedicated web/ftp/file server/gateway/router. Loaded Clarckconnect on it, and voila... Instant server 
They've got some PIIIs up there for $100-$200 that would work wonderful also.
Not as elegant as a Mac, but far cheaper
The box I run brewcitybrag.org on runs 2 web sites, has my entire MP3 collection on it(about 80 to 100 gig), and was built from Ebayed parts, and stuck in to a slightly modified brushed aluminum PC case. The case is a Skyhawk with a removable motherboard tray, which made it easier to drill the new holes for the motherboard, which isn't ATX standard. The motherboard is a refurbed gigabit G4 that I paid $129 for. The powersupply was $80, the memory I had laying around, $200 for the pair of 120 gig HDs. $20 CD Burner, and a $49 Asus Geforce2 card, flashed with Mac roms. The G4 400 was $49. I machined up an old AMD Athlon CPU heatsink+fan to fit the G4 and zip tied it to the processor board.
Throw all the parts together, load a free copy of OSX on it(OSX was free for teachers and faculty at the time, and my sister is a high school teacher). And you have the makings of FRANKENMAC
It's been running crash free for the past 18 months, and proudly displays...
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Blake
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 10, 2004 - 03:22 pm: |
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"Don't hang out in bad neighborhoods."
Don't we resemble that remark?  |
Josh_
| | Posted on Thursday, November 11, 2004 - 08:03 pm: |
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Since you guys mentioned systems, you can get a Dell PowerEdge SC420 (essentially their top-of-the-line desktop in a server case) for $319 +tax in their Small business/Outrageous deals section until tomorrow.
Pentium4 2.8Ghz, 800Mhz FSB, 1MB cache
256 MB DDR2 ECC RAM (max 4GB)
80GB SATA hard drive
gigabit NIC
300+watt powersupply
8x AGP, 4-8 USBs (not sure how many)
CDRom, no floppy, no OS, no keyboard, no mouse
Buy three 256MB Ram sticks in the peripherals store for $222. Killer system for $541+tax. Add a video card if you're playing games.
Downside: only room for 2 internal hard drives (I'll mod the case to get 3 in there) and only one external 3.5 bay (so Zip or floppy, not both) |
Steve_mackay
| | Posted on Friday, November 12, 2004 - 08:27 am: |
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Josh,
Excellent suggestion. I've got an SC400 pretending to be a workstation here Picked up 4 sticks of 512MB ram, a GeForce FX5600(hacked to a Quadro). Voila, instant workstation for around $700 at the time.
The NO OS is easy. You can buy an OEM XP Pro License only for under $100. Or just go the easy route and download Fedora, Suse, or BSD
The SC400 had 6 USB2 ports. So I'm guessing the SC420 has at LEAST that many. 2 are on the front, which aren't visible because of the "server" front bezel. But easily fixed with a die grinder |
Josh_
| | Posted on Friday, November 12, 2004 - 10:24 am: |
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The 420 doesn't have onboard audio, has only 4USB connectors (2 open on the front) and has only 1 onboard IDE connector (tho 2 SATAs).
It does have 1x and 8x PCIe but you have to hack a 16x card if you want the best video (no one apparantly make a 8x video card?).
I'm ordering mine and trying to find the best memory deal. |
Firemanjim
| | Posted on Friday, November 12, 2004 - 11:24 am: |
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Jeez,do any of you guys speak english?You realize most of us poor slobs have NO clue what you are talking about?? |
Josh_
| | Posted on Friday, November 12, 2004 - 11:45 am: |
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Well I gave up on the 420 since it only has the 8x PCI-e slot. I like the DDR2/533 option and ECC plus the EM64T upgradability but I think I'll settle for a Dimension8400 (P4 3.2,512MB DDR2, 80GB SATA, 128MB 16x PCI-E, integrated 5.1 audio and 19"FP for $799)
any one want the 19"FP? Dell sells for $519 and I don't need it. Offers?
lo siento, no habla ingles JaimeHombreFuego} |
Steve_mackay
| | Posted on Saturday, November 13, 2004 - 12:40 am: |
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Josh,
Seems as though they crippled the SC420 VS what they did with the SC400. The SC400 was IDENTICAL in every aspect to the Dell 8300. 6 channel audio, onboard SATA, 2 IDEs, 6 USB2 ports, etc... The only difference being the front of the case.
Firemanjim of course we're speaking english It's geeks like us, who need to bail out, er, help people like you when your computer DOESN'T work |
Firemanjim
| | Posted on Saturday, November 13, 2004 - 01:17 am: |
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Great, so when ya coming over to tune up my computer----
Josh,no sprieken sie computerese!!
Je ne parle pas tres bien le computerese-- |
Josh_
| | Posted on Saturday, November 13, 2004 - 04:50 am: |
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Mail it on over and I'll tune it the best I can. |
Steve_mackay
| | Posted on Saturday, November 13, 2004 - 05:46 am: |
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Great, so when ya coming over to tune up my computer
Sometime in February when it's -20 here. But 1st you need to send me a round trip plane ticket |
Josh_
| | Posted on Saturday, November 13, 2004 - 12:23 pm: |
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If you like computers and you like flamewars take a look at the first 4 posts here
Essentially a know-it-all/I-have-the-best-system is uhm "exposed" by his own brief posting history. It's funny. |
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