[sf-lug] Creating a Linux Lab

[Jason Turner]

Tom Haddon wrote:
> On Mon, 2007-07-02 at 12:06 -0700, Catenare LLC wrote:
>   
>> On 02 Jul 2007, at 11:18 AM, Jeff Bragg wrote:
>>
>>     
>>> "None of the Dell Gx150 machines that were donated meet these specs.
>>>
>>> According to Dell documentation, they can only accommodate 512 MB  
>>> of RAM.
>>> Ref: http://tinyurl.com/24b2sr
>>> That said, I've never tried putting more in these machines, so they  
>>> may
>>> unofficially accept more.
>>>
>>> I do not know the status of other machines at the lab, but Kami might.
>>>
>>> Also, please note the although there is a spare PCI slot available,  
>>> these
>>> machines are "small form factor" and require a half-height aka
>>> low-profile PCI card."
>>>
>>>       
>> I have 2 Dell PowerEdge 2300 Servers with 512MB of RAM each. They're  
>> Dual Processor Pentium 3 machines @ 600mhz. One has a 20/40gb DLT  
>> drive. I'm about to recycle them but would rather donate them if  
>> anyone is interested. 3Com Superstack II Dual Speed hub available too.
>> I've actually used similar servers for a Linux lab setup in South  
>> Africa. I used a combination of Edubuntu and regular debian for my  
>> lab. Also used recycled machines and thin terminals (from Devon IT  
>> http://www.devonit.com) in the lab.
>>
>> Let me know if interested. Thanks.
>>     
>
> Hi Johan,
>
> Sounds like a very generous offer - thanks very much! Do you know if it
> would be possible to increase the RAM on either of these machines
> (presumably by borrowing from the other)? I think it sounds very
> promising, but to be able to support the number of thin clients we're
> expecting (10), we would probably need to get close to 1GB RAM per the
> article's recommendations.
>
> Sounds like you have experience with this kind of thing specifically -
> if you have other comments let us know.
>
> Cheers, Tom
>
>   
>>
>> Johan N. Martin
>> Catenare LLC
>> 534 Pacific Ave
>> San Francisco, CA. 94133
>>
>> Phone: (415) 834-9802
>> Fax: (415) 294-4495
>> http://www.catenare.com
>>
>>
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>>     

Once again, seconding... in this case the acceptance of Johan's generous 
offer.  As to questions of memory/slot maximums, I add another potential 
consideration.  I have several 512M PC100 SDRAM DIMMS to give away.  A 
downgrade in speed from the memory that comes with Romel's machines, but 
I have more than enough to max out a couple of servers.  Obviously the 
same goes for Johan's machines too(except  that machine may currently 
use 100s too?).

Anyways, there is that question about the machines supported maximums.  
My experience with IBMs over the years has been pleasant: many of their 
server lines(and Thinkpads too) had BIOS updates that jacked up the max 
on their old machines.  Like the old dual P2 Xeon that I currently use 
some of this memory in.  But a quick search didn't reveal any such 
updates for these machines(I was less than thorough) and I heed Jeff's 
experience with Dell. 

But I'll bring them(the memory) anyway this Saturday -- unless we 
determine that there's no way these will work before then.  Any chance 
we can arrange transport of your gear on/before that day too, Johan?

BTW, thanks all for the reading/viewing material about multi-machines 
hook-ups and edubuntu.  Let me also second the solicitations from those 
of you with more of this experience.


--
jt