Re: [MLUG] Re: tentative specs for our Linux box...

["Jonathan King" <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On 4/18/07, Mike Miller <EMAIL:PROTECTED> wrote:
> On Tue, 17 Apr 2007, Jonathan King wrote:
>
> > Major feature creep here: we got 2 GB (a matched pair) which Milo is
> > also pitching more in on, and which I justified because it means I will
> > be able to run ImageJ, R, and Octave like a mad man. This cost $117 from
> > Crucial, which was the low-priced reasonable quality dealer.
>
> That really is a fairly powerful computer.  I mean, it would kick the shit
> out of the Sun box I got 10 years ago for $15k.

Tell me about it. The first computer I didn't have to sign up for
programming on was a Commodore Vic20, which had 8 KB of RAM. That was
like 1979, This box will have 250,000 times as much memory.

The first "real" computer I owned (real = had a working C compiler)
was a 1984 model Macintosh 128K with a spacious 400KB floppy drive.
This computer will have 16,000 times as much RAM, and, even with a
2002 era hard drive (120 GB), about 300,000 times as much disk space.

The Mac had a Motorola M68000 that had performance of 1 MIPS, and the
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ we were going to buy is rated as being 14,564
times faster, but is itself only about one quarter the speed of the
latest Intel Core 2 Extreme processors. (Yes, I know that MIPS is not
an ideal measure here, but the numbers were at hand.)

> >> In any case, I think ths set up will run $80 for the mobo, $90 for the
> >> processor, $50 (after rebate) for the case, $75 for the PS (see below),
> >> $30 for the optical, and $60 for one stick of RAM.
> >
> > We were over by $15 on the mobo/proc, under by $25 on the PS, over by
> > $13 on the optical, and over by $60 on the RAM. So instead of saving
> > $50, we ended up spending ~$65 more. But the improvements came on the
> > processor speed and RAM, so I think it was a reasonable deal.
>
> So you're up to $450 then?

Just about. But I think doubling the RAM was worth it, and I really
did want the better and quieter case, so there really wasn't very much
else to cut. Software cost will be, of course, $0. This will be faster
than anything else in the house by a factor of 5-10 (probably more
like 40 times faster than the ancient and honorable iBook we have).

First likely upgrade will probably be to make it a MythTV box, but
that's no big rush.

> > So now we just have to wait a bit, and then the wild assembly process
> > begins...
>
> Your son, I predict, will be absolutely thrilled at this.  When you put
> together a computer, and it works, that's a great feeling and kids really
> get into it.  He'll be really proud.

If it doesn't blow up. :-) Seriously, this will be pretty cool. The
only trepidation I have is that Feisty Fawn is only officially coming
out tomorrow, and we're likely to be building this on Sunday (unless
something ships late), so it's likely that there will be about a
bazillion things that will need to be tweaked, possibly including the
drivers for the on-board 6150. That's kind of a bore, unfortunately.

jking

_______________________________________________
members mailing list
EMAIL:PROTECTED
http://mlug.missouri.edu/mailman/listinfo/members