Spare Computer

[indignity]

... I turned my spare into a linux box... I like the linux environment better for programming

[Mad Mardigan]

If you are able to get a few more you can make a Beowulf Cluster.

 

info at http://www.beowulf.org/overview/index.html

[Guest U.F.O.]

Just joined. 1st post test.

 

U.F.O.

[bloodhound]

another ufo sighting.

[NSX]

... I turned my spare into a linux box... I like the linux environment better for programming

 

I've got an old comp sittting here too.

 

When you guys say linux box, what exactly to you mean?

 

Just a comp. that runs Linux-based OS or something else?

 

My old comp's got:

 

AMD K62 350 MHz

3.2 GB HD

32 MB ram

4 MB video card

36X reader

floppy

 

HOwever, it's still got Win98, and there's only ~200 mb of space left on the HD. I've heard of people doing dual boots with Win & Linux by partitioning their drive from the get-go, but can I still partition it to do a dual boot? More importantly, will Linux run on < 200 mb?

[YT2095]

you could always use it as a gateway/server, or give it to me )

 

it`s better than the one I use now!

[5614]

video? do you have a link?

are you taling about the 5GHz video? i will post the link later, i did not photo or film me pulling apart the old computer...

 

it was probably too old to run linux, DOS cmputer with the really old small RAM (i anyone remembers it!)

 

"it`s better than the one I use now!" -- YT2095

man you really need an upgrade!

[ed84c]

thanks that is what i meant

[Dave]

I've got an old comp sittting here too.

 

When you guys say linux box' date=' what exactly to you mean?

 

Just a comp. that runs Linux-based OS or something else?[/quote']

 

It's a box with "linux" written on the side of it

 

The more sensible answer is that it's just a server (no monitor, keyboard, external peripherals) that sits there like a box and runs linux. That's about it really.

 

HOwever, it's still got Win98, and there's only ~200 mb of space left on the HD. I've heard of people doing dual boots with Win & Linux by partitioning their drive from the get-go, but can I still partition it to do a dual boot? More importantly, will Linux run on < 200 mb?

 

Hmm. Firstly you'd need to use partition magic to create a small (i.e 100mb) partition for Linux - you can't re-partition without losing data unless you use something like Partition Magic to re-organise the data - and then you'd be able to run a Linux distro. However, you'd be fairly limited to what you can do.

 

Just fork out £30 or so and buy a small hdd to shove linux (or win98) on. Makes life a lot simpler.

[5614]

5GHz project

 

http://www.tomshardware.com/site/videos/index.html

 

just click 'download THG Video 11' which is below the top picture and above the link which says '5GHz project....'

 

"use partition magic to create a small (i.e 100mb) partition for Linux " -- Dave

 

when you say partition magic is that paritions are magical or a program which makes partition?? because if its a program then you can just use the inbuild windows HDD partitioner.

[Mad Mardigan]

5GHz project

 

http://www.tomshardware.com/site/videos/index.html

 

just click 'download THG Video 11' which is below the top picture and above the link which says '5GHz project....'

 

"use partition magic to create a small (i.e 100mb) partition for Linux " -- Dave

 

when you say partition magic is that paritions are magical or a program which makes partition?? because if its a program then you can just use the inbuild windows HDD partitioner.

 

Partion Magic allows you to make partions on your hdd, set up a section as unallocated space if you want to use linux as part of dual boot.

[NSX]

Just fork out £30 or so and buy a small hdd to shove linux (or win98) on. Makes life a lot simpler.

 

haha

 

I have a spare 2GB hdd that my uncle gave me, but the problem is that I don't have any extra IDE cables (or whatever it is that I plug into the hdd) emanating from my board, or wherever it comes from.

 

Can I purchase a IDE cable and add it on myself?

 

In addition, I was worried about Linux's safety.

i.e. http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue34/vertes.html

 

I'm under the impression that Linux is strong in that malware cannot execute because it is a non-windows environment. However, I'm worried about instrusion attempts against Linux from outside the web.

 

For example, Windows has a variety of safety features bunched with it's OSs (e.g. alg.exe, lsass.exe) (whether they are effective or not is not the point atm ). Do certain linux 'distros' have better security features than other, if any?

 

Thanks!

[5614]

yeah, just buy an IDE cable, theyre well cheap and then plug it into your motherboard (assuming you have a spare IDE slot!) and then partition the drive and format it and that its all go.

NB: IDE cable normally have 3 ports on, one to motherbaord, one to primary HDD and the 3rd for an extra HDD, so you may be able to use that!

 

why would one use partition magic? windows has its own built in program which does it for you... unless you were using linux etc.

[NSX]

yeah' date=' just buy an IDE cable, theyre well cheap and then plug it into your motherboard (assuming you have a spare IDE slot!) and then partition the drive and format it and that its all go.

NB: IDE cable normally have 3 ports on, one to motherbaord, one to primary HDD and the 3rd for an extra HDD, so you may be able to use that!

 

why would one use partition magic? windows has its own built in program which does it for you... unless you were using linux etc.[/quote']

 

hm...I thought the IDE cable only goes from the motherboard to the device?

 

Anyways, the HDD is already formatted & my friend is giving me an old 40pin IDE cable on Monday. I hope all goes well.

[5614]

hm...I thought the IDE cable only goes from the motherboard to the device?

IDE cables do go from the motherboard to the device... however there is normally a third link on the IDE cord itself - another (3rd) IDE port.

 

a random google search came up with this example... you would attach one end to the motherboard and the other end of the cable to your device, there is in the middle of the cable a third IDE thingy, in this you can attach another device, most commonly used for attaching a 2nd HDD to the same IDE as your primary (original) HDD.

 

Anyways, the HDD is already formatted & my friend is giving me an old 40pin IDE cable on Monday. I hope all goes well

sometimes they need re-formatting, i dont know why, i just have had experiences where if it wont recognise the disk it may need re-formatting.

[NSX]

Oh, serious...

 

I never new that middle thing was an attachment.

 

Thanks dude!

 

 

 

& I was about to bump this thread for security issues relating to Linux, or more specifically: Mandrake; which seems to be my current choice for a Linux/GNU distro.

 

I found a good link for that info: http://www.security-forums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=925

[Mad Mardigan]

I still think you should get more comps and build a Beowulf Cluster though.

[CPL.Luke]

for overclocking information go to ocforums.com good forum for that kind of thing

 

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=263753

 

overclocking guide

 

you could also use a hammer and vice grip to take the cpu or ram chip out and look at the insides (very fun if you have a microscope)

 

the hard drive also contains two or more High power NIB magnets which are fun to play with. you just have to be careful how you open the hard drive as they break easily

[NSX]

hm ... I will try to get my hdd working first before i try that wacky stuff.

 

My cd drive used to use the primary slave, but I changed it to be the secondary slave because the new 2 GB hdd uses the primary slave now.

 

My win98 still uses the primary master, but the comp does not read the new hdd or the cd.

 

Any suggestions?

[5614]

My cd drive used to use the primary slave' date=' but I changed it to be the secondary slave because the new 2 GB hdd uses the primary slave now.

 

My win98 still uses the primary master, but the comp does not read the new hdd or the cd.[/quote']

well, to be honest thats a bit confusing all the primary/secondary master/slave... i'd say put it all back how it was and just take the IDE cable which had the original HDD on it and attach the new HDD to the middle link of that IDE cable, making both HDDs on the same cable... thats what i did.

[ed84c]

the magnets are the top left bannana shaped bits yes, there should be 2, be careful they hurt when they pinch your fingers!

[5614]

you could also use a hammer and vice grip to take the cpu or ram chip out and look at the insides (very fun if you have a microscope)

the computer has the very old samller RAM... you will remember it if you took computers apart about 10 years ago... i got 8 of then from one computer! (still probably doesnt add up to even 1MB of RAM! do you suggest looking at RAM under a microscope? you wouldnt see much more than the chip...

yeah, the CPU is cool! well, it would be cool if i knew what it was! there are 4 possible cpu sized chips.... its a 1991 computer, so maybe it doesnt have one!

and yes, ive opened up my current computer i do know what a cpu looks like! trust me, there are 4 cpu type chips, i dunno which one is the CPU, unless its dual dual cpu!

 

the hard drive also contains two or more High power NIB magnets which are fun to play with. you just have to be careful how you open the hard drive as they break easily"

i opened my HDD with ease but:

 

 

are the magnets in the top right hand silver bit? there were two HDDs, one is in perfect working (but opened) condition, for my own interest, the other is totaly dismantled... no reader or nothing! in the silver bit (top right in image) there are two magnety looking things, is that them? also, this is a 199x HDD, so they may not be NIB as they are so old... do you know?

[ed84c]

are the actual disks useable like a CDRW in such a drive?

[5614]

no because they are too small and wouldnt fit in your CD drive! well they could, but they wouldnt be picked up and the laser would ruin your CD drive when trying to read/write to the very edges of a normal CD which arent there on the smaller HDD "cd"s... damn, i blunt ended one of the screws, so got a nice long leaver and broke the whole thing out!!!!, metal shards all over everywhere!

 

i now have the top right silver bit sperated and can clearly see the bannana magnets, how do i seperate them from the silver part? which doesnt wanna open?

[5614]

doesnt matter, appropriate force makes them slide out, quite powerful, nightmare to seperate... trust me i know!!! also there were 4 of them (each side top/bottom was split into two seperate ones.