[GRLUG] ELS

[Mike Williams]

You've correctly identified the problem with a solution like this. We're 
talking about resurrecting an old power-hungry desktop machine which has 
less processing power than a Raspberry Pi, modern smartphone, or 
reasonably high end consumer grade wireless router!

Unless you need an application server of some kind, you're probably 
better off getting a WRT54GL or similar, running OpenWRT on it, and 
hanging an external hard drive or printer (via a USB hub if necessary) 
off of the USB port. You might have to drop $80 or so for a good enough 
router with USB, but how long before you recoup that in electricity 
savings? It's probably not very long.

If you want to stick with x86 rather than ARM, another option would be 
to make a server out of an old Atom netbook like the ASUS 
900-somethings. They're way too slow for real use, but if the USB 
controller is decent you could put Linux on the netbook and connect the 
hard drive and printer to it. It's still going to have more horsepower 
and consume less electricity than an old PIII that you dug out of the 
closet.

On 11/28/2012 02:02 PM, Don Ellis wrote:
> I agree. Probably not practical (except in winter time), but good to
> do just for the experience!
>
> --Don Ellis
>
>
> On Wed, Nov 28, 2012 at 6:52 AM, Adam Tauno Williams
> <awilliam at whitemice.org <mailto:awilliam at whitemice.org>> wrote:
>
>
>     > The Elemental Linux Server (ELS) is designed from the outset to be a
>     > minimal, no-frills server distribution that allows you to run modern
>     > network services on Intel PC hardware that is about ten years old.
>
>     I'm no green tree-hugging hippie [most "green" stuff is complete
>     bollocks, nothing more than rearranging numbers] - but running a bunch
>     of ten-year old Intel's is going to be a pricey option [except in
>     January and February - that's 'free' heat!]
>
>
> ...
>
>     to crawl like a dog.  And the throughput on that vintage of NICs & bus
>     is probably going to be abysmal; the wireless connection from your
>     tablet might be faster.
>
>     On the other hand, I'd probably install it just for kicks. :)
>
>
>
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