Some of you may remember our woes here with a power surge and a problematic Mac Mini that no-one could fix. Well I gave up on that because it kept freezing up and clearly was of no use to me as a file server or for running backups for this forum and other sites of ours.
Tonight I built us a teeny tiny little PC with a couple of gig of storage space. I'll install Linux on it and it'll (hopefully) do the job of the old Mac for about half the price. The computer is known as Einstein Junior (the unreliable and now retired mac was known as Einstein). The new Einstein is about as big as a large paperback and sitting on the desk right next to me I can't hear it at all. I am quite pleased!
(http://www.australian-coins.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/DSCN2485.JPG)
(http://www.australian-coins.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/DSCN2482.JPG)
there's an intel inside!!
Your a genious markn.
Question please: Can you write computer programs?
ooops
is that a loose earth I can see there ?
ha ha
Quote from: 'robbiegal' pid='25742' dateline='1377082920'there's an intel inside!!
There's an Intel inside just about everything nowadays.
Well, apart from phones, but they're trying there as well.... :(
Quote from: 'Goldseeker' pid='25745' dateline='1377083683'Question please: Can you write computer programs?
Too general a question Goldy. Anybody can program... its more a question of languages and proficiency. I think I know what you have in mind though... for that you probably want Assembler or C+... am I right? ;)
Geez that's tiny.
Does it fit a 3.5in hard disk, or only a smaller 2.5in one ?
red or blue, red or blue..GEEBUS, just run PP it's gonna blow :laugh2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvQlCv4K37c
Quote from: 'Goldseeker' pid='25745' dateline='1377083683'Your a genious markn.
Question please: Can you write computer programs?
That's what he does to pay the bills.
Quote from: 'Fr45h3R' pid='25759' dateline='1377089711'Geez that's tiny.
Does it fit a 3.5in hard disk, or only a smaller 2.5in one ?
It's got two 2.5" drives running in Raid1 which you can see below. They sit in a little cage under the motherboard. I chose 5400RPM drives because I didn't want them to be noisy and seeing as this is just serving files for our little office there was no reason to go for higher speed units.
The motherboard has USB3 support so I'll be plugging in some external HDD's for offsite backups. And possibly serving up movies to our TV :angel:
(http://www.australian-coins.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/DSCN2483.JPG)
Quote from: 'Goldseeker' pid='25745' dateline='1377083683'Your a genious markn.
Question please: Can you write computer programs?
I am not a genius. Yes, I can write computer programs. Anyone can if they take the time to learn.
We just might have to get together as I have a program especially written for me but the gent that did it no longer available. If you are over in Melbourne some time Mark, please advise by PM and I shall try and get you a copy of the programme for you to experiment with.
Quote from: 'markn' pid='25780' dateline='1377123360'Quote from: 'Fr45h3R' pid='25759' dateline='1377089711'Geez that's tiny.
Does it fit a 3.5in hard disk, or only a smaller 2.5in one ?
It's got two 2.5" drives running in Raid1 which you can see below. They sit in a little cage under the motherboard. I chose 5400RPM drives because I didn't want them to be noisy and seeing as this is just serving files for our little office there was no reason to go for higher speed units.
The motherboard has USB3 support so I'll be plugging in some external HDD's for offsite backups. And possibly serving up movies to our TV :angel:
What a great case. Raid 1 is always a good option.
Quote from: 'Goldseeker' pid='25909' dateline='1377164621'I have a program especially written for me
See? I was right! :)
If Mark's interested in this, I'm happy to help facilitate the process. And yes, a low-level language would be required since there's hardware involved.
Quote from: 'Fulvio' pid='25934' dateline='1377177783'Quote from: 'Goldseeker' pid='25909' dateline='1377164621'I have a program especially written for me
See? I was right! :)
If Mark's interested in this, I'm happy to help facilitate the process. And yes, a low-level language would be required since there's hardware involved.
PM me with details of what it is.
Quote from: 'Fr45h3R' pid='25911' dateline='1377166271'What a great case. Raid 1 is always a good option.
It is pretty good. I especially like the HDD cage and the teeny tiny PSU (the whole thing runs off of an AD/DC external brick). I also loved the fact that the standard CPU cooler fits inside the case (I thought I'd need an expensive low profile cooler). The standard cooler is almost silent too.
It's not without it's issues though. The cables from the front panel should have terminated somewhere else because they interfere with putting the motherboard in. They also should have included two 90 degree SATA cables because it was a bugger routing the cable through a small gap without placing too much stress on the motherboard.
Just out of curiosity Mark, what are the Speccs on this unit?
These micro footprint m/boards came out ages ago with the old "atom" cpu on them and they were as tough as nails :good:
Quote from: 'trout' pid='25949' dateline='1377210777'Just out of curiosity Mark, what are the Speccs on this unit?
These micro footprint m/boards came out ages ago with the old "atom" cpu on them and they were as tough as nails :good:
It's an intel 1155 motherboard using the H61 chipset. It'll run any 1155 pin CPU I believe. I've put a Pentium G2030 cpu in it. As a file server I don't need much CPU. There's two RAM slots allowing up to 16GB of memory. I've got a single 4GB stick in in it. There's four SATA3 ports on the MB but the case only holds two. I've plugged in two 5400RPM 2.5" laptop drives. There's USB3 support, on-board video (if the CPU supports it), plus the usual sound, serial ports and so on. I bought this MB because of the USB3.0 support, most of these micro-atx boards only support USB2.0. There's a PCI-E slot on the board too but you'd need a low profile card to use it and I think in this case you wouldn't be able to use it at all because nothing would fit.
The case comes with a AC/DC converter and a 90W internal PSU. There's no case fans. USB2.0 on the front panel.
Quote from: 'markn' pid='25951' dateline='1377211845'Quote from: 'trout' pid='25949' dateline='1377210777'Just out of curiosity Mark, what are the Speccs on this unit?
These micro footprint m/boards came out ages ago with the old "atom" cpu on them and they were as tough as nails :good:
It's an intel 1155 motherboard using the H61 chipset. It'll run any 1155 pin CPU I believe. I've put a Pentium G2030 cpu in it. As a file server I don't need much CPU. There's two RAM slots allowing up to 16GB of memory. I've got a single 4GB stick in in it. There's four SATA3 ports on the MB but the case only holds two. I've plugged in two 5400RPM 2.5" laptop drives. There's USB3 support, on-board video (if the CPU supports it), plus the usual sound, serial ports and so on. I bought this MB because of the USB3.0 support, most of these micro-atx boards only support USB2.0. There's a PCI-E slot on the board too but you'd need a low profile card to use it and I think in this case you wouldn't be able to use it at all because nothing would fit.
The case comes with a AC/DC converter and a 90W internal PSU. There's no case fans. USB2.0 on the front panel.
Looks like this setup is more than capable of doing the Job :good:
going to all that trouble and not using SSD's?
SSD's would have tripled the price.
Quote from: 'markn' pid='26043' dateline='1377315991'SSD's would have tripled the price.
Plus, its a file server, remember? There IS such a thing as overkill... ;)
Quote from: 'Fulvio' pid='26051' dateline='1377320982'Quote from: 'markn' pid='26043' dateline='1377315991'SSD's would have tripled the price.
Plus, its a file server, remember? There IS such a thing as overkill... ;)
I have a SSD as a system disk in my development computer. Certainly makes for faster boot times.
I just don't like HDD noise on the desktop... I have 5 x SSDs in RAID5 array on my desk.
And your file server is exactly where you want fast disks as its function of file serving implies (thread did say nerdy!).
Quote from: 'Oz 50c Man' pid='26092' dateline='1377381924'I just don't like HDD noise on the desktop... I have 5 x SSDs in RAID5 array on my desk.
And your file server is exactly where you want fast disks as its function of file serving implies (thread did say nerdy!).
There's just the two of us here and while a SSD or 7200 RPM drives would serve the files faster I don't think the (almost imperceptible) performance improvement would really be worth the extra cost or noise (for the 7200RPM drives). I can't hear the 5400 RPM drives btw and they are on the desk with me about 50cm away from me.
Quote from: 'markn' pid='26093' dateline='1377382386'...I don't think the (almost imperceptible) performance improvement would really be worth the extra cost...
Like most things, it comes down to balance. There are other factors besides drive speed at work. Things like the OS, the cabling, and what the client machines are doing for example.
Did you know just kinking an Ethernet cable can reduce its performance significantly?
There are better places to spend money than SSDs for file servers, IMO.
Quote from: 'Fulvio' pid='26155' dateline='1377423032'Like most things, it comes down to balance. There are other factors besides drive speed at work. Things like the OS, the cabling, and what the client machines are doing for example.
Did you know just kinking an Ethernet cable can reduce its performance significantly?
There are better places to spend money than SSDs for file servers, IMO.
I agree. We actually use very few files "live" from our file server anyway. Most of them reside on our local machines and those are synced to the server. The ones we do actually use live from the server are not used very often anyway.
I must say I am extremely happy with the new machine. I've installed some daemons to monitor the temperatures and fan speeds and found a great PHP script (phpsysinfo (http://www.australian-coins.net/showthread.php?tid=1&pid=26171#pid26171)) that publishes a web-page with lots of information I like to know about.
I've also run some experiments with it dropping one of the raid members and testing that the machine reboots. I've also made sure I can boot from a live Linux USB stick and still recover the data from the disks. All went smoothly.
I'd quite like to put a little LCD display on it with the CPU temp and fan speeds but PPH doesn't seem to care for the $40 it might cost me.
Quotebut PPH doesn't seem to care for the $40 it might cost me.
Don't tell her Mate :diablo:
Quote from: 'trout' pid='26184' dateline='1377428328'Don't tell her Mate :diablo:
I think a blue glowey LCD starting her in the face is unlikely to escape her attention. And she notices everything anyway.
Quote from: 'markn' pid='26187' dateline='1377428589'Quote from: 'trout' pid='26184' dateline='1377428328'Don't tell her Mate :diablo:
I think a blue glowey LCD starting her in the face is unlikely to escape her attention. And she notices everything anyway.
"it came with the Case Babe" :angel: :)
He already said something. I just thought that there'd be some sort of webpage magic that it could do just like we can see our solar output on the internet!
Quote from: 'markn' pid='26179' dateline='1377428083'I'd quite like to put a little LCD display on it with the CPU temp and fan speeds but PPH doesn't seem to care for the $40 it might cost me.
I was looking for something like this a while back. I had toyed with the idea of a VFD display but they were quite expensive for what they were.
Got a link to the $40 one?
Quote from: 'purplepennyhunter' pid='26190' dateline='1377429316'I just thought that there'd be some sort of webpage magic that it could do just like we can see our solar output on the internet!
There is. But lights and knobs and dials and meters and such are waaaay cool, in a mad-scientist kinda way.
Its a guy thing. Humour him and be glad he doesn't install a big evil-looking knife switch connected to the lightning rod. :angel:
Quote from: 'Fr45h3R' pid='26193' dateline='1377431170'I was looking for something like this a while back. I had toyed with the idea of a VFD display but they were quite expensive for what they were.
Got a link to the $40 one?
I was looking at that one.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/U204GFB-A1-7-USB-HD44780-Big-20x4-Blue-LCD-Smartie-Computer-Case-PC-Modding-/320918114321
QuoteMarkn: There's just the two of us here and while a SSD or 7200 RPM drives would serve the files faster I don't think the (almost imperceptible) performance improvement would really be worth the extra cost or noise (for the 7200RPM drives). I can't hear the 5400 RPM drives btw and they are on the desk with me about 50cm away from me.
Ahhh, so you don't have 12TB's of media that the missus and kids stream to all parts of the house and beyond....
Like Fulvio says, its a balance thing.
I have more guitars than I can play, so I either spend on coins or computers... Ahhh, your right... why am I wasting it on the computer!
Quote from: 'Oz 50c Man' pid='26262' dateline='1377504611'Ahhh, so you don't have 12TB's of media that the missus and kids stream to all parts of the house and beyond....
Nope. lol. That's a lot of movies and tv shows :)
Quote from: 'markn' pid='26265' dateline='1377505921'Nope. lol. That's a lot of movies and tv shows :)
Meh. I've been debating whether to unpack this 3Tb a mate reneged on... but do I really need to go to 21Tb just yet? :)
Course, I could just take it over to another mate's place and have him fill it with stuff I don't have yet... but I'd probably never get around to watching it anyway. :angel:
Quote from: 'Fulvio' pid='26281' dateline='1377515521'Quote from: 'markn' pid='26265' dateline='1377505921'Nope. lol. That's a lot of movies and tv shows :)
Meh. I've been debating whether to unpack this 3Tb a mate reneged on... but do I really need to go to 21Tb just yet? :)
Course, I could just take it over to another mate's place and have him fill it with stuff I don't have yet... but I'd probably never get around to watching it anyway. :angel:
I would hang onto it Mate :good:
In another 10 years a 3tb drive will make a reasonable BOOT disk :laugh2:
Quote from: 'trout' pid='26282' dateline='1377516089'In another 10 years a 3tb drive will make a reasonable BOOT disk
Yeah. Which is why I think I'd rather recover what I paid for it, and get a bigger one for less when I actually
need it.
Or, you know, I could just find something to fill it with. :)
Once upon a time, I bought two dozen 1Gb HP drives. The job at hand didn't require them all, and 6 or 7 went into storage for eventual upgrades. Naturally when the time came, some were flaky. At which point I discovered they had a 5-year warranty, and HP happily replaced the whole batch. Didn't even ask for the dead ones back. They just said junk 'em.
I've
still got some lying around, brand new in unopened bags. Think I should noodle them for errors? Or maybe get them slabbed? :)