Thursday, May 06, 2010

still in the lab - the next day

Back here in the lab there is great excitement, but I told you that already. Along with the stuff I got a few days ago, I procured two servers from a friend. Now what good is old servers? I can see your minds racing as did mine. But you got to think, if you don't know much about servers, you've gotta find out.  First of all a server is a "C", not a "PC" as far as hardware is concerned. A server in software can actually exist on any hardware it will run on. A server is the eye of the resource storm and is used to manage, direct, deploy, store, allocate, etc, etc, etc, connecting users to data. Don't take it personal, it's not a Personal Computer.

BUT when you pop the top, you find it's just like a "PC" inside. The hardware may be more robust or the divice connections different (mine is SCSI or scuzzy). So, what am I doing with? I have no web hosting aspirations, no need for business type infrastructure data processing configurations. The most logical thing for me was to see if I could use this advanced fire power for a "PC".

Well, it's got dual CPUs and a RAID disk array, needs more memory and maybe it will run Blender 3D better than my regular PC.

I tried a dozen different Linux versions on it. All the mainline Linuxes have too much whizbang to work. I tried #!CrunchBang Linux and it worked. It installed almost without a hitch. I had to exchange the CD ROM drive from one server to the other. Always get two junkers, one for spare parts!


The servers are rack mount sound like a vacuum cleaner and are designed to run forever.............................What kind? Compaq Proliant DL380.


This is why I have a lab and use Linux. Useful work is over rated, IT'S ALIVE!!!

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