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Re: [Wlug] On the subject of building systems - Re: PC-BSD, FreeBSD, and iXsystems - anyone know about them?

by David Glaser

Thanks for the info. -David E Johnson wrote: > I have, built April 2009: > > AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600 Brisbane 2.9GHz Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core > Processor - $64.99 > ASUS M3A78-CM AM2+/AM2 AMD 780V Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - $74.99 > Kingston 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual > Channel Kit Desktop Memory - $44.99 > Cooler Master Elite 335 RC-335-KKN1-GP Black SECC Steel ATX Mid > Tower Computer Case - $49.99 > Acer X193W+BD Black 19" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor > > Some SATA hard drive... don't know offhand. > Some DVD drive, I forget, nothing spectacular. > > According to ASUS, this motherboard is a "Corporate Stable Model (CSM) > for long-term availability." It has DVI and VGA output. Specs & > reviews here: > http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131330 > > Running on this PC, Debian Lenny (kernel 2.6.26-2-686 Bigmem). > > I have another PC very similar, same mobo but 2.8 gig AMD processor, > built Dec. 2008. This PC has a nVidia Corporation GeForce 8500 GT vid > card that came out of a homebuilt monster running twin dual Xeons, in > which the mobo fried. This PC runs Ubuntu Hardy (kernel 2.6.24-generic) > > These two PCs run cool with only the stock coolers on the CPU, and the > case fans. Right now it's 65 outside, maybe 70 in here, the > motherboards are both 39C and the processors are 40C (mine, using it > now) and the other one at 42C. > > The onboard audio chips work fine under Ubuntu and under Debian Lenny. > > The vid chip in the one without the separate vid card seems to warm up > if I am doing certain video-intensive operations, although this is > rare. It runs movies like Youtube videos just fine, but certain online > viewers, such as like zoom viewers on websites, seem to heat it up > some. I haven't checked to see if the same type of operations heat up > the vid card in the other PC. > > Ethernet chip also works fine, needed no special tweaking. Nothing > needed additional drivers downloaded. > > Setting up this mobo was a little odd at first. It would not recognize > an older HP flatscreen monitor, but can see the Acer monitors just > fine. I RMA'd one mobo before I figured out the problem was the > monitor, not the vid chip on the mobo. HP techs had no clue why this > monitor was not recognized, and could only suggest downloading a > different driver... not needed with the more recently-purchased Acer > monitor. > > I like these monitors very much. They are 19" -- not too big for the > tabletop setup here, yet have 1680 x 1050 resolution, which is hard to > get in the 19" monitors. The monitors now cost about $99 to $119 > depending on who's selling them. These monitors are also among the few > in this size and price range that come with a DVI cable in the box. > > Greg Avedissian of WLUG built these PCs (among many others he's > built), and he may be able to offer further advice. He does a really > nice job building these things & getting them running. I usually am > running several different apps in different windows, all at the same > time. The speed of the processor is very good, and a dual-core is fine > for me. I can wholeheartedly say that I am very happy with these PCs. > All the components work together very well, and they easily do > everything I need. > > Hope this helps. > Liz J > > > 2009/8/9 David Glaser <dglaser(a)glaserresearch.net > <mailto:dglaser@glaserresearch.net>> > > It has been ten years since I built a system and I figure I should > do it > again to refresh my skills. > > I took a look at motherboards and processor combinations and I was > overwhelmed by the proliferation of choices. > > What I was wondering if I could get the members of the group to share > the basic configuration of systems they have built to give me an > idea of > what I should look at. > > I want to build a compute/file server. I do a lot of heavy duty > software development using the Eclipse IDE and the Java and C++ > Development tools. Also, I need to store a lot of data - mostly > images. > > My house is wired with a 1GB Ethernet so I have good bandwidth to > access > the server. > > Thank you for any help. > > -David > > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org <mailto:Wlug@mail.wlug.org> > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug >

Aug. 9, 2009

Re: [Wlug] On the subject of building systems - Re: PC-BSD, FreeBSD, and iXsystems - anyone know about them?

by E Johnson

I have, built April 2009: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600 Brisbane 2.9GHz Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor - $64.99 ASUS M3A78-CM AM2+/AM2 AMD 780V Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - $74.99 Kingston 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - $44.99 Cooler Master Elite 335 RC-335-KKN1-GP Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $49.99 Acer X193W+BD Black 19" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor Some SATA hard drive... don't know offhand. Some DVD drive, I forget, nothing spectacular. According to ASUS, this motherboard is a "Corporate Stable Model (CSM) for long-term availability." It has DVI and VGA output. Specs & reviews here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131330 Running on this PC, Debian Lenny (kernel 2.6.26-2-686 Bigmem). I have another PC very similar, same mobo but 2.8 gig AMD processor, built Dec. 2008. This PC has a nVidia Corporation GeForce 8500 GT vid card that came out of a homebuilt monster running twin dual Xeons, in which the mobo fried. This PC runs Ubuntu Hardy (kernel 2.6.24-generic) These two PCs run cool with only the stock coolers on the CPU, and the case fans. Right now it's 65 outside, maybe 70 in here, the motherboards are both 39C and the processors are 40C (mine, using it now) and the other one at 42C. The onboard audio chips work fine under Ubuntu and under Debian Lenny. The vid chip in the one without the separate vid card seems to warm up if I am doing certain video-intensive operations, although this is rare. It runs movies like Youtube videos just fine, but certain online viewers, such as like zoom viewers on websites, seem to heat it up some. I haven't checked to see if the same type of operations heat up the vid card in the other PC. Ethernet chip also works fine, needed no special tweaking. Nothing needed additional drivers downloaded. Setting up this mobo was a little odd at first. It would not recognize an older HP flatscreen monitor, but can see the Acer monitors just fine. I RMA'd one mobo before I figured out the problem was the monitor, not the vid chip on the mobo. HP techs had no clue why this monitor was not recognized, and could only suggest downloading a different driver... not needed with the more recently-purchased Acer monitor. I like these monitors very much. They are 19" -- not too big for the tabletop setup here, yet have 1680 x 1050 resolution, which is hard to get in the 19" monitors. The monitors now cost about $99 to $119 depending on who's selling them. These monitors are also among the few in this size and price range that come with a DVI cable in the box. Greg Avedissian of WLUG built these PCs (among many others he's built), and he may be able to offer further advice. He does a really nice job building these things & getting them running. I usually am running several different apps in different windows, all at the same time. The speed of the processor is very good, and a dual-core is fine for me. I can wholeheartedly say that I am very happy with these PCs. All the components work together very well, and they easily do everything I need. Hope this helps. Liz J 2009/8/9 David Glaser <dglaser(a)glaserresearch.net> > It has been ten years since I built a system and I figure I should do it > again to refresh my skills. > > I took a look at motherboards and processor combinations and I was > overwhelmed by the proliferation of choices. > > What I was wondering if I could get the members of the group to share > the basic configuration of systems they have built to give me an idea of > what I should look at. > > I want to build a compute/file server. I do a lot of heavy duty > software development using the Eclipse IDE and the Java and C++ > Development tools. Also, I need to store a lot of data - mostly images. > > My house is wired with a 1GB Ethernet so I have good bandwidth to access > the server. > > Thank you for any help. > > -David > > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug >

Aug. 9, 2009

On the subject of building systems - Re: PC-BSD, FreeBSD, and iXsystems - anyone know about them?

by David Glaser

It has been ten years since I built a system and I figure I should do it again to refresh my skills. I took a look at motherboards and processor combinations and I was overwhelmed by the proliferation of choices. What I was wondering if I could get the members of the group to share the basic configuration of systems they have built to give me an idea of what I should look at. I want to build a compute/file server. I do a lot of heavy duty software development using the Eclipse IDE and the Java and C++ Development tools. Also, I need to store a lot of data - mostly images. My house is wired with a 1GB Ethernet so I have good bandwidth to access the server. Thank you for any help. -David

Aug. 9, 2009

Re: [Wlug] PC-BSD, FreeBSD, and iXsystems - anyone know about them?

by E Johnson

Seconding Brian's idea. Build a computer: get a processor and motherboard, RAM, a PSU, a case, hard drive, maybe a vid card. This can be done for 400 or less if your needs aren't terribly big, or if you can reuse a hard drive or something. Then rather than running the various distros as virtual machines, install them in your newly-built computer. Make some extra 10 G partitions on the hard drive, then install a different OS in each partition, keeping your home directory containing your personal files as its own separate partition. Then you can test and compare Linux distros until you find the one that works best for you. There are people in WLUG who can help you through the build process or the installation process, if you should want a consult as you go along. Good luck, Liz J 2009/8/8 Brian Conway <bconway(a)alum.wpi.edu> > 2.) You may want to consider saving some money and putting your own > system together. They're pretty clearly reselling standard parts (the > case is an Antec Sonata III with included 500W power supply, for > instance), and unless you *really* need a Core i7 right now, there are a > lot of bargains now on high end Core2 Quads and DDRII memory that will > last you for a while. > > Brian Conway > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug >

Aug. 9, 2009

Re: [Wlug] PC-BSD, FreeBSD, and iXsystems - anyone know about them?

by Brian Conway

On Sat, 8 Aug 2009 15:18:12 -0400 Brian McLinden <brian.mclinden(a)gmail.com> wrote: > I'm thinking about buying their new Apollo rig, > http://www.ixsystems.com/apollo > > and ask them to install some kind of virtual machine software on top > of FreeBSD (or PC-BSD) so that I can learn various linux distros > running as clients. To add on the previous reply: 1.) FreeBSD is great and I use it in many places, but their current offerings for hosting VMs are a little sparse. QEMU/KQEMU and older VMware versions work, but not much more. 8-CURRENT will run reliably as a domU in Xen, though, so progress is coming. Linux offers you VMware, Xen, KVM, VirtualBox, etc. 2.) You may want to consider saving some money and putting your own system together. They're pretty clearly reselling standard parts (the case is an Antec Sonata III with included 500W power supply, for instance), and unless you *really* need a Core i7 right now, there are a lot of bargains now on high end Core2 Quads and DDRII memory that will last you for a while. Brian Conway

Aug. 8, 2009

Re: [Wlug] PC-BSD, FreeBSD, and iXsystems - anyone know about them?

by Ryan Pugatch

Brian McLinden wrote: > I have pretensions of hacker status someday. ;-] > > They are selling a desktop with PC-BSD installed and configured. > > I'm thinking about buying their new Apollo rig, http://www.ixsystems.com/apollo > > and ask them to install some kind of virtual machine software on top > of FreeBSD (or PC-BSD) so that I can learn various linux distros > running as clients. > > Anyone know anything about them? > > Any thoughts or cautions about this approach? > > Thanks in advance for thoughts, reactions. > > PS - anyone programming Lisp, write me? > > Brian.McLinden(a)gmail.com If you want to be a "hacker", wouldn't you want to buy a system and load the OS yourself and then set up VMs yourself? You won't get far if you don't know how to install the OS. It would probably be a good learning experience. Ryan Pugatch Systems Administrator, TripAdvisor

Aug. 8, 2009

PC-BSD, FreeBSD, and iXsystems - anyone know about them?

by Brian McLinden

I have pretensions of hacker status someday. ;-] They are selling a desktop with PC-BSD installed and configured. I'm thinking about buying their new Apollo rig, http://www.ixsystems.com/apollo and ask them to install some kind of virtual machine software on top of FreeBSD (or PC-BSD) so that I can learn various linux distros running as clients. Anyone know anything about them? Any thoughts or cautions about this approach? Thanks in advance for thoughts, reactions. PS - anyone programming Lisp, write me? Brian.McLinden(a)gmail.com

Aug. 8, 2009

Re: [Wlug] August WLUG meeting

by Andy Stewart

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Al Rreinhart wrote: > Andy, > > I would like to announce the August WLUG meeting to the IEEE Worcester > County Section members. Do you have any additional information about > maddog and what his talk will be about? I need something to put > together a description of the meeting and the speaker. Does maddog > have a website? > > Thanks, > > Al HI Al, I don't have any other information than what I posted on the WLUG website. Thanks for offering to announce the WLUG meeting to the IEEE Worcester County Section members. See ya later, Andy - -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group (http://www.wlug.org) Chelmsford Linux Meetup Group (http://linux.meetup.com/393) Amateur Radio: KB1OIQ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with SUSE - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFKfLzWOjiraCaOTOoRAkKBAJ4w7DIkHG0UGDdsx5r70ZeCUrk2UwCfcm8y mBadLfvRRLT5K38lD2VKuCk= =lc7+ -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Aug. 7, 2009

Re: [Wlug] August WLUG meeting

by Richard Klein

On Thu, Aug 6, 2009 at 10:04 PM, Al Rreinhart <Reinhart(a)discom.com> wrote: > Andy, > > I would like to announce the August WLUG meeting to the IEEE Worcester > County Section members. Do you have any additional information about > maddog and what his talk will be about? I need something to put > together a description of the meeting and the speaker. Does maddog > have a website? > > Thanks, > > Al > Maddog has a wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maddog -- Rich

Aug. 7, 2009

Re: [Wlug] August WLUG meeting

by Al Rreinhart

Andy, I would like to announce the August WLUG meeting to the IEEE Worcester County Section members. Do you have any additional information about maddog and what his talk will be about? I need something to put together a description of the meeting and the speaker. Does maddog have a website? Thanks, Al Andy Stewart wrote: > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > > HI gang, > > Please note that I've just updated the website with a meeting topic > change. It turns out that maddog will be visiting us at the August > meeting instead of the October meeting. maddog has visited WLUG on > previous occasions and is an excellent speaker. You won't want to miss > this meeting! > > More news later.......... > > Andy > > - -- > Andy Stewart, Founder > Worcester Linux Users' Group (http://www.wlug.org) > Chelmsford Linux Meetup Group (http://linux.meetup.com/393) > Amateur Radio: KB1OIQ > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- > Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux) > Comment: Using GnuPG with SUSE - http://enigmail.mozdev.org > > iD8DBQFKaSjuOjiraCaOTOoRAozPAJ41EoNqkKUwrJZI5p+bdue4u4I8EQCgjKIC > z7NW+SXkD52OrYZAv0VxMsI= > =73dF > -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug > -- ---------------------------------- Al Reinhart Phone: (508) 869-6417 DisCom Systems eMail: Reinhart(a)DisCom.com www.DisCom.com

Aug. 7, 2009