Hi all,
In order to learn hardware before leaving for college, I have taken a
full-time job at a local computer recycling place. Since I will be
attending college on a rather nice scholarship, I will have more money than
I am likely to need in the immediate future; through my work, I will also
recieve a 15-30% discount on hardware beyond the wholesale prices.
I am considering setting up 1-3 rather slow (P2-250 or below) Debian boxes
in my parents' basement and using them for some combination of QA factoring
and 'regular' double-checking assignments.
I would have to give them assignments via sneakernet, as my family uses
dialup internet and I doubt they would want the phone tied up at random
hours as machines dial in to request new assignments. Also, it would be
tough, to say the least, to run phone cables down from the nearest jack,
which is about fifty feet from the counter I envision, and down a flight of
stairs to boot.
My questions for the list:
1. How difficult is it to set up Debian on a box of known specs? Also, is
it plausible that a box would run without intervention from August to
December?
2. Which type of processor, memory etc will give the most bang for the buck?
We rarely see anything beyond P2-250's, so I would have to pay retail for
that.
3. How could I get double-checking assignments that are big enough not to
delay the project before I can report results in mid-December, and that will
not require constant checkins before then (I am not sure that I will be home
between about August 22 and the second week of December; we sometimes go to
one of my cousins' houses for Thanksgiving). Email from George is the
obvious option; are there any others?
Regards,
Nathan
________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com
_________________________________________________________________
Unsubscribe & list info -- http://www.scruz.net/~luke/signup.htm
Mersenne Prime FAQ -- http://www.tasam.com/~lrwiman/FAQ-mers
