[plug] OT (?) low heat & low noise linux box for firewall?

[Bret Busby]

On 8 Sep 2002, Daniel wrote:

> 
> Hi, just wondering if anyone has any suggestions for a quiet machine to
> use as a linux firewall - and one that won't mind my room which has all
> the benefits of being cold in winter and hot in summer.
> 
> Has anyone tried the new Via (~Cyrix) chips?
> 
> And the low-end Intel chips - I wonder if there are any good 'low-noise'
> cooling solutions?
> 
> Any ideas would be appreciated as I should pension off my old box before
> it dies.
> 
> Thanks,
> Daniel.
> 

We use as a gateway/firewall/server, a Cyrix 6x86 P120+ ; a 100MHz CPU.

It doesn't make any significant noise, it runs in a room that has no 
air-conditioning, and we have been so using it for a couple (or few) 
years, now.

The only problem with it, is that occasionally, the CPU fan decides not 
to work, so the beep beeps and stays a continuous beep, until it is 
rebooted, which seems to kickstart the fan.

We turn it off every day, when we shut the computers down, to minimise 
the risk of an electricity failure damaging any of our computers (they 
all run off a UPS, but it only gives about 5 minutes, to allow a safe 
shutdown).

If you were able to find a similar computer, it should do the job for 
you; as long as it has a reasonable CPU fan, although a CPU fan for a 
Cyrix 6x86 CPU, or, a pentium with a CPU fan, or an AMD K6 chip with a 
CPU fan (all these are pin and voltage compatible, from memory), should 
be able to be obtained from somewhere like Computer Salvage, or Discount 
Computers in Bayswater.

Basically, you should be able to pick up a decent used computer that 
will do the job, and that will be cheaper than buying a new one.

What is wrong with your old computer, that you can't use that, and, if 
you are going to "pension it off", what are you going to do with it?

-- 
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
..............

"So once you do know what the question actually is,
 you'll know what the answer means."
- Deep Thought,
  Chapter 28 of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
- Douglas Adams, 1988
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