On Wed, 26 Nov 2003, Hans Franke wrote:
> Because the true cost is more than just the board? Take allone
> the task of finding Disk drives that work with old computers,
> large enough to hold for example the webcam pictures, and other
> stuff, not to talk the Linux system - serious, the time when you
> could install a full figured Server on a 100 MB drive is gone.
> I still have such a system (486-133) running at home to serve
> an old style mud, but even back then I had to do the setup by
> hand to have enough free space ... Today, below a Gig nothing
> is realy doable - except you make the installation of the sys
> your task, instead of using it as a tool.
Don't be silly. First of all, a very simple minimal installation on less
than a gig is not that difficult. Second, one can always find a cheap PII
or even Celeron system (especially if one is an electronics recycler :)
Third, you can fit a large (1GB+) hard drive into a 486 without much
hassle.
> These new boards are quite cheap and allow a hassle free installation
> and operation. To me, the idea is to have an invisible, reliable
> appliance to manage such tasks. Think of it like a gender changeer box
Overkill...
> > You can find a real small Pentium board with the same specs. In fact,
> > Pentium SBCs (single board computers) are real easy to get also. I have a
> > stack of them.
>
> Now, they are extremly expensive in contrast. The great idea
> about the VIA board is the price and the fact that everything
> is on board.
You can get Pentium SBCs on eBay for dollars (or Euros if you
prefer...US$1.16 to the Euro means I'm drinking rather heathily these days
;)
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
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Received on Wed Nov 26 2003 - 18:47:32 GMT