[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
On Sat, Oct 30, 2004 at 11:38:02PM -0500, Nikolas Britton wrote:The Soekris boxes are awesome, I'd LOVE to have one, But even with the power consumption, size, fanless arguments I still cannot justify the cost ($194 for a net4501-30 Board, Case, and PS) when I have old computers taking up space in my workshop. Money doesn't grow on trees in the world of small business.
Here is a better idea!
Step 1: Go dumpster diving for old computers (Pentium 1 or better, 8MB IDE Storage Device or better, and a minimun of 48MB/Ram).
Step 2: Grab some networks cards wail your in the dumpster.
Step 3: Install said network cards into computers.
Step 4: Install and configure m0n0wall on said computers. http://m0n0.ch/wall/
Step 5: Profit???
------------------
Total Cost: $0.00
Well, depending on your geographic location, you may want to consider power consumption as the main cost factor here. A Soekris box would consume something around 5-10 Watt or so on average. Compare this to even the slowest Pentium. Oh, and they are absolutely silent as well :-)
-cpghost.
If you are worry about power consumption or reliability when using old computers I have some general tips for you:
1. Don't use a storage device that has spinning disks, instead use a CF card, Zip Drive/Disk, etc. http://www.cfide.co.uk/compact_flash_ide_adapters.shtml
2. Remove all non-essential components from the system (CD-Roms, Hard drives, floppy drives, add-in cards, etc) and disable in the BIOS anything that can't be removed (floppy controller, sound card, printer and serial ports, secondary IDE controller, etc.).
3. Underclock and/or mount a big heatsink onto the CPU so you can remove the cpu fan.
4. One 64MB stick of ram uses less power then two 32MB sticks, follow that logic.
5. Remove some or all case fans because, Heat Isn't an issue unless your cpu is like 400Mhz+, you will still have the power supply fan for cooling.
CPU (at full load): 30 Watts Mainboard: 10 Watts RAM: 5 Watts 3 NIC: 15 Watts 1 Fan: 5 Watts The Unkown: 10 Watts ----------------------- Total: 75 Watt Light Bulb
It will take me 3.98 years just to recoup the cost of the net4501. ---------------------------------------------------------------- (g+a)/d/c = h = 34931 (3.98 years) ------------------------------------ a/d/c = e, be = f, fd = g
a = net4501-30 Board, Case, and Power Supply = $194
b = power used by net4501 = 0.012kWh
c = power used by oldcomp = 0.075kWh
d = Price (residential) of 1kWh = $0.0859 http://www.midamericanenergy.com/html/aboutus2.asp
e = Number of hours I can run the computer until I spend $194 (the price of the net4501) in power.
f = How many kWh the net4501 will uses in the same amount of time that it takes me the spend $194 in power using the computer.
g = The price of those kWh's the net4501 uses
h = How long (in hours) it will take to recoup the cost of buying the net4501 instead of just using an old computer.
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