It'd be a good experiment to see how people would do on Linux without knowing anything about it.
got 69 old pcs for 2
- Thread starter Zammy-Sam
- Start date
Zammy-Sam
Desertchild
Since you started it: picked up 200 (!!!) computers, 40 working screens (>14''), network hubs bnc-twisted_pair 100mbit and a box full of cards like sounds cards, controler (even cached), network cards...
But after nixgeeks recommendation on Calmira, I really have to get msdos and windows 3.11 on those pcs. Tested it on my VirtualPC and it worked so fine. Looked really like winxp and ran very very very very much faster. Let's just pray microsoft doesn't still have windows 3.11 for workgroups licenced.
But after nixgeeks recommendation on Calmira, I really have to get msdos and windows 3.11 on those pcs. Tested it on my VirtualPC and it worked so fine. Looked really like winxp and ran very very very very much faster. Let's just pray microsoft doesn't still have windows 3.11 for workgroups licenced.
Zammy-Sam
Desertchild
Actually the truck I rent had a ca. 20m^3 "trunk". We were allowed to load up to 3 tons and that was kinda enough. We had to fill it up till the roof and make few layers of screens, which I didn't like, but there was no choice. However, loading all those computers, screens and other tools took us (4 ppl) 3 hours and unloading was done within 2 hours. And today I feel like I was running a marathon.. 
Zammy-Sam
Desertchild
Current situation:
105 pcs were checked and tested over the weekend. I made a list of cpu, ram, bus system, connections, drives such as floppy/hdd/cdrom, power supply, fans, graphic card and remainings. 80 pcs are left for the next weekend. By now I have many Pentium MMX 166Mhz systems with pci graphic cards, 128mb EDO mem, floppy and CDrom. Only 3 of the 105 pcs didn't boot up but most of the systems didn't have a harddrive. The weakest system I had by now: 486DX-S (didn't know there is such an add like "-S" which has nothing to do with SX) 33Mhz. However, a lot of these systems were cooled passive and all power supplies were renewed and they are VERY silent. Eventhough I was in the garage and it was very silent, I couldn't say if the systems were already on or not. Had to touch the backside of the power supply to feel the breeze. Altogether I am very satisfied by now. I have around 150 FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data Interface) ISA cards, many CDroms up to 24x, some fancy SCSI drives (harddisk, CDrom, PCMCIA-drive, DLT-drive) and a bunch of SCSI cables and controlers.
Still I didn't find out, whether windows 3.11 is freeware now or still licenced.. Any ideas?
EDIT: Added pics from the unloading. First: half done; last: all done
105 pcs were checked and tested over the weekend. I made a list of cpu, ram, bus system, connections, drives such as floppy/hdd/cdrom, power supply, fans, graphic card and remainings. 80 pcs are left for the next weekend. By now I have many Pentium MMX 166Mhz systems with pci graphic cards, 128mb EDO mem, floppy and CDrom. Only 3 of the 105 pcs didn't boot up but most of the systems didn't have a harddrive. The weakest system I had by now: 486DX-S (didn't know there is such an add like "-S" which has nothing to do with SX) 33Mhz. However, a lot of these systems were cooled passive and all power supplies were renewed and they are VERY silent. Eventhough I was in the garage and it was very silent, I couldn't say if the systems were already on or not. Had to touch the backside of the power supply to feel the breeze. Altogether I am very satisfied by now. I have around 150 FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data Interface) ISA cards, many CDroms up to 24x, some fancy SCSI drives (harddisk, CDrom, PCMCIA-drive, DLT-drive) and a bunch of SCSI cables and controlers.
Still I didn't find out, whether windows 3.11 is freeware now or still licenced.. Any ideas?
EDIT: Added pics from the unloading. First: half done; last: all done
Attachments
Zammy-Sam
Desertchild
Yeah, I have many pics not only on all that "beige plastic", but also on a bunch of pissed_off_faces.
Randman, the "master node" will be reserved for you. The fastest by now was a Pentium2 350Mhz with 256mb of ram and AGP!
Btw, while I was opening those 105 cases, I saw about 105 possible ways, how to close a big tower or midi case. Sometimes it was very frustrating and the weakened force of my fist didn't help either. But now I can say I am some sort of graduated pc-case_opener. Any outlook for such kind of graduation?
Randman, the "master node" will be reserved for you. The fastest by now was a Pentium2 350Mhz with 256mb of ram and AGP!
Btw, while I was opening those 105 cases, I saw about 105 possible ways, how to close a big tower or midi case. Sometimes it was very frustrating and the weakened force of my fist didn't help either. But now I can say I am some sort of graduated pc-case_opener. Any outlook for such kind of graduation?
Zammy-Sam
Desertchild
Short notice on the current status:
Bought many many 2gb harddiscs, ISA soundcards, Edo memory, new DIN keyboards and serial mice, powersupply cable for pc and screen. I started installing these things in 20 pcs by now. The thing is that those P90s cause me some troubles. Decided on installing SUSE 7 on all the pcs. Runs quite fine with most of them but what to do with systems that do no understand CD-Roms over IDE such as a bunch of the P90 ones? Have no idea if this is a BIOS-update-thing or if I need to do the trick with a soundcard including an IDE port..
Anyone thoughts on that? As long as the BIOS doesn't find the CD-Rom (the CD-Roms are all fine) I can't install anything usefull.
Btw, does anyone know about a linux version that is running on the CD? I heard you don't need to install it on your disc but simply boot from the CD. That would save me 90mins for installing SUSE on each system.
Bought many many 2gb harddiscs, ISA soundcards, Edo memory, new DIN keyboards and serial mice, powersupply cable for pc and screen. I started installing these things in 20 pcs by now. The thing is that those P90s cause me some troubles. Decided on installing SUSE 7 on all the pcs. Runs quite fine with most of them but what to do with systems that do no understand CD-Roms over IDE such as a bunch of the P90 ones? Have no idea if this is a BIOS-update-thing or if I need to do the trick with a soundcard including an IDE port..
Anyone thoughts on that? As long as the BIOS doesn't find the CD-Rom (the CD-Roms are all fine) I can't install anything usefull.
Btw, does anyone know about a linux version that is running on the CD? I heard you don't need to install it on your disc but simply boot from the CD. That would save me 90mins for installing SUSE on each system.
Zammy-Sam
Desertchild
Ahhh, I should also add the current financial status: almost 200Euro were paied for the transportation to my parents garage and 300Euro for all the parts that I bought on ebay. That makes almost 500Euro ($610). Selling 10 of those I finished by now should cover my expenses without considering the working time. That would be 49Euro for a Pentium system up to 166mhz, up to 128mb of ram, 2gb hdd, CDRom, soundcard, SUSE preinstalled and adjusted, ethernet card, 14''-15'' screen, brandnew keyboard and mouse (3 buttons no wheel).
So, what do you guys think of it? Should be a great deal for the students in their very small rooms and no money and even need for a big pc.
They can do web browsing, chat, listen to CDs and mp3s, write their manuscripts..
So, what do you guys think of it? Should be a great deal for the students in their very small rooms and no money and even need for a big pc.
They can do web browsing, chat, listen to CDs and mp3s, write their manuscripts..
A couple of options. When you sell the PC's, figure out how much it would cost to buy Windows ME/XP/9x what whatever, and install/configure it. Then do the same for Linux. Then when you sell them, say this: x for a plain jane PC, y for a PC with Windows, and z for PC with Linux.
Personally, I have done similar with FreeBSD as the OS, then Blackbox as the wm. I just disabled all the consoles except one, then enabled ssh. Then in blackbox, just enable only the necessary commands in the menu. Then when they say they have a problem, but can still connect to the internet, I can ssh in and work. I set them up so that they can add users and what not. Its not hard to do, you just need to look at what you want/need, and find the best way to do it.
Personally, I have done similar with FreeBSD as the OS, then Blackbox as the wm. I just disabled all the consoles except one, then enabled ssh. Then in blackbox, just enable only the necessary commands in the menu. Then when they say they have a problem, but can still connect to the internet, I can ssh in and work. I set them up so that they can add users and what not. Its not hard to do, you just need to look at what you want/need, and find the best way to do it.
