[K12OSN] Minimum Server Config

[Mike Heins]

Quoting Henry Hartley (henryhartley at westat.com):
> 
> I've been asked to design a small computer lab for a non-profit in St.
> Vincent.  I'd like to deliver a reasonable LTSP lab but my budget is
> currently exactly zero.  Getting donations of virtually any number of
> adequate thin client machines is not a problem.  We'll probably end up
> soliciting funds for the server and I want to recommend as low-end a
> machine as I can get away with.  I don't want to scare them away with a
> $3,000 price tag.  We can always do more if we raise more but we need to
> start very small.  I'm expecting to need to power only about 10
> workstations and I think we can live with the system being on the slow
> side, as long as it doesn't lock up for five or ten minutes at a time.

If 10 workstations is all you need, any server with 2mb ram will probably
do the trick.

> 
> I understand that RAM is probably more important here than CPU speed.
> Is AMD going to save me anything over Intel?  Assuming I cannot afford
> SCSI drives, would it make sense to get multiple IDE drives and do RAID
> in some form or just live with standard IDE drives?  Would a fast PIII
> give me better cost/performance as compared to a P4?  I appreciate any
> and all advice you can give.  Anyone willing to spec out a machine in
> detail earns extra points.
> 

I currently have an Athlon 2200+ with 3GB ram and an IDE disk which
does fine for 15 stations, groans at 22.

I just configured a brand new 3GHz HP a1113w desktop with 4GB RAM (3.2
G available), a 160G SATA hard drive, DVD and DVD writer, memory card reader,
and two ethernet ports for just under $1400. It should handle 25 stations
running OO 2.0 beta using ICEwm.

-- 
Mike Heins
Perusion -- Expert Interchange Consulting    http://www.perusion.com/
phone +1.765.647.1295  tollfree 800-949-1889 <mike at perusion.com>

Being against torture ought to be sort of a bipartisan thing.
-- Karl Lehenbauer