I want my uni to do something non-MS based, so I've opted to try and win them over to a fully open source solution. Eventually I'd like to have a small (5 nodes or so) system to benchmark various clustering setups on (openMOSIX, Scyld, SCORE, OSCAR, clustermatic, etc.), but first I have to show them it can be done.
My goal then is to impress the Computer Science Faculty and Staff with an inexpensive, fast-booting, stable, speedy Linux wundernode; and then present a "Fund Me for a Few More Penguins" speech which will cause them to loosen the purse strings. Maybe if they'd stop buying extra copies of Exchange Server... but I digress. At any rate, even if I 'fail', I still have a really cool toy, and a lot of valuable experience.
Here's my List of Things to Acquire(TM):
0) pcchips m810clmr (SiS730S) w/ Duron 1.2 ($77) 1) 1GB PC 133 RAM ($25/ea. 512MB; $50 total) 2) DiskOnChip MD-2008-D08 ($25) 3) MATX Case ($19) 4) IDE2CF Adapter ($21?) 5) CF Media ($40 - $???) 6) Optional HDD (ca. $50)
All told, I'm looking at about $USD 300 per node, which is in my opinion quite reasonable. So what am I waiting for? Why, someone to poke obvious holes in my hastily conceived plan, of course. Good questions to answer would be:
- Did I overlook some incredibly obvious component / requirement? - Can I do the three-step (DOC -> CF -> HDD) boot? - Should I avoid a particular brand of CF Media? - What size CF should I aim for? - Do you have a sample of a pcchips m810lmr config lying around? - Is my cost analysis fairly complete and realistic?
Some of these questions are inane enough that they may not warrant flooding the whole list with responses. Direct replies ( david.barr (at) student.oc.edu ) are welcome, especially if you've done time on the SiS730S.
-dbarr.
PS: Apologies for the ugliness of my previous post to the list: that'll teach me to send mail from lab computers during class.