Arch Linux

ramjet

Member

Registered: 2005-02-16

Posts: 37

Thin client a server

Hi ive been looking for a small fanless (silent) cheap machine to use as a server and to play with.

Ive been looking at mini itx solutions but they are as rare as hens teeth second hand and I cant find a new one for less that 500$ (AU)

Another other option is a Linksys NSLU2 which is popular but seems a bit gutless in the specs compartment and therefore quite limited.

In my search i came across several thin clients which sell for quite cheap second hand (<100$) and seems to have good specs.
for example the HP T5525
has a 800mhz Transmeta Crusoe processor
and 128MB ram, (granted only 256mb of flash)
This seems very adequate as the machine i am currently using as a server is a p166 with 32 mb (dont need X)

I have done some research, but there does not seem to be any reported instances of people using thin clients as anything but thin clients.
My question is, does anyone know of this being done or a reason it is not done? Is the Transmeta Crusoe processor i386?.  is there any reason slackware would not run?

dhasenan

Member

Registered: 2006-10-11

Posts: 9

Re: Thin client a server

No, but you probably want /var and /tmp on ramdisks, then keep as much of / as possible on a read-only partition. You'd have to update by deploying a new image on the machine, though.

Transmeta CPUs are x86-compatible, so that won't pose a problem.

The main reason that people don't use thin clients as servers, I think, is that they need more data storage or else more processing power (or both) than thin clients provide. Mail server? With ten users, you're down to 20MB per user. File server? Likewise. You can attach an external USB drive if you want, though that will reduce throughput; but still, a thin client, USB hard drive enclosure, and hard drive may well be the cheapest option for a file/mail/CVS server.

In this setup, you could keep /boot on the flash drive and put everything else on the external drive.

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It's my fault.

Ruckus

Member

Registered: 2007-02-17

Posts: 204

Re: Thin client a server

Id suggest just finding a cheap older PC, That way its nice and quiet, and still can perform quite nicely. Right now my home server is an old 434mhz pc, with 192mb ram (originally had 64mb ram). I got it off of my brothers work place (it had been sitting under their work table for ~5 years doing nothing).

But since it has PCI slots, i can make it do pretty much what ever i need it to.

its specs: http://home.mylost.info/3rdparty/phpsysinfo/ it will take 5-10 seconds to load

Im just saying that these older PC's are practically given away all the time. Just keep your eye out .