Graf > Personal Interests > Computing

The Computers

Primary Server:	This machine is built around an Asus P2B series ATX motherboard, and powered by a 400 MHz Pentium II processor (the CPU can be upgraded to a Pentium III). It has both an embedded IDE bus and an embedded, three-way SCSI bus (SCSI-2, SCSI-Wide and Ultra-SCSI). The motherboard currently has 640 megabytes of memory on-board (expandable to 1Gb) and a dual port USB Root Hub. The IDE bus has two drives attached (total capacity: 80 gigabytes), as well as an Iomega ZIP drive and a 56x CD-ROM drive. A 24x/6x CD-R drive and a DVD reader are connected to the SCSI-2 bus, along with a DDS-3 (4mm DAT) Tape Backup. In addition, a dual media Floppy Drive (3½" and 5¾") is also installed on this machine. Sound is provided by a SoundBlaster Live! PCI card. The video subsystem consists of an nVidia GeForce AGP Video adapter, and a Sony 420GS (19") display that has two independent video inputs. For networking, a 3Com 3C509B-TX 10/100 Fast Ethernet adapter has been installed. On the peripherals side, the following devices are connected: HP LaserJet 1200 and DeskJet 960c Printers, an external US Robotics Courier modem (V.90). The USB subsystem has a 7 port secondary hub attached, serving a Umax 2200U flatbed scanner, a Dazzle multimedia reader, and a Logitech QuickCam. This machine is dual-boot, running Linux as the primary Operating System, and Microsoft WIndows 2000 Professional as the secondary OS. « Back
Secondary Server:	This machine is built around Asus P4PE seroes ATX series motherboard, and powered by a 1.8 GHz Pentium 4 processor. The motherboard has an integrated SoundMax AC'97 compatible audio subsystem and a BroadCom 4401 Fast Ethernet network subsystem. An Asus V7100 Pro AGP Video adapter equipped with the nVidia GeForce 2 MX 400 chipset drives a Hitachi SuperScan Elite, 17" monitor. The machine has 512 megabytes of PC2100 memory installed, which can be expanded to a maximum of 2 gigabytes. Connected to the integrated IDE bus are a 60 gigabyte hard disk and a 52x/24x/52x CD-RW drive. A 3½" floppy drive is also built into the machine. An external US Robotics V.34 Courier modem is connected to this machine, and print services are provided over the network. The machine is currently single-boot, running Microsoft WIndows 2000 Professional, and I plan to make it a dual-boot system in the future by installing Linux. « Back
General Purpose Server:	This machine is currently built around a Soyo 5EH series motherboard and powered by a 133 MHz Pentium processor. Currently, only 256 megabytes of memory are installed in this machine. A dual connector USB subsystem is the only integrated device on the motherboard. The IDE bus drives three hard disks with a combined capacity of 57 gigabytes and a 24x CD-ROM drive. In addition to a 3½" diskette drive, a 3.2Gb Iomega Ditto Tape drive is also connected to the system. The audio subsystem consists of a SoundBlaster AWE64 adapter, and an nVidia GeForce PCI adapter drives a Viewsonic A70 series monitor. A 3Com 3C509B-TX 10/100 Fast Ethernet adapter, an HP DeskJet 612c printer, a Zoom V.90 external modem and a self-powered, four port, secondary USB hub round out the configuration of this machine. This is my oldest system and was built to host my Bulletin Board System (BBS). It began life with a 16MHz 80286 processor, 1 megabyte of memory, 80 megabytes of disk space, and running MS-DOS. Later, it was upgraded to an 80386SX system and IBM OS/2 version 3.0. After shutting down the BBS, the machine became a test system for use in my business, and for that purpose it was upgraded once more, this time to an 80486 processor. When I began dealing with more esoteric environments, I upgraded it to the current configuration. The only original components left in this machine are the floppy drive and the tape drive, the latter hailing to the 80386SX days. Today, this machine is used for testing software and to verify Web Sites prior to deployment. It is a multi-boot machine which has the following Operating Systems installed: Microsoft Windows 98, BeOS, FreeBSD and Linux. Other Operating Systems that have been run on this machine include: Digital Research DR-DOS 6, Novell DOS 7, OS/2, SCO Unix SCO Xenix, and TheOS. « Back
Laptop Computer:	My portable machine is a Sony Vaio PCG-GR390 computer. It came equipped with a 1.2 GHz Pentium III Mobile Processor, 512 megabytes of memory, a 30 gigabyte hard disk, and a removable DVD/CD-RW drive. Sony claims the machine cannot support more than the aforementioned 512 Mb, but it is possible to install up to 1 gigabyte in the form of two 512 Mb memory modules. It is very thin, measuring about one inch in thickness when closed, and weighs 7.14 lbs (3.24 kg). Its video susbsystem consists of an ATI Mobile Radeon adapter driving a 15" LCD display capable of a maximum resolution of 1400 x 1050. While the machine doesn't have any IR or serial ports, it does have a dual-speed Network adapter, Intel Sound subsystem, three port USB root hub, IEEE-1394 (Firewire) hub, V.90 software modem, parallel port, S-Video output, and a memory stick reader. I purchased a USB floppy drive and a USB optical mouse for the machine. This computer replaces my previous laptop, a Gateway Solo 2100, which could barely manage to run Windows 98. The Vaio originally came with Microsoft Windows XP Home preinstalled, which I was able to upgrade to Windows 2000 Professional. I also turned it into a dual-boot machine, having installed Linux on it. In due course, I intend to remove Windows altogether and make it a pure Linux system. I'm pleased to say that Linux runs perfectly on this machine, with every component fully functional. SuSE Linux 8.2 is the only current distribution that runs perfectly out-of-the-box. All other distributions require at the very least, that a custom kernel be built for full hardware support. Because Linux installation procedures for laptops are more involved than for desktops, I wrote a How-To document describing the installation process for this machine and its cousin, the PCG-GR370. I found an email list for Linux on Vaio which is also a very valuable resource. « Back

The Computers

Primary Server:

This machine is built around an Asus P2B series ATX motherboard, and powered by a 400 MHz Pentium II processor (the CPU can be upgraded to a Pentium III). It has both an embedded IDE bus and an embedded, three-way SCSI bus (SCSI-2, SCSI-Wide and Ultra-SCSI). The motherboard currently has 640 megabytes of memory on-board (expandable to 1Gb) and a dual port USB Root Hub.

The IDE bus has two drives attached (total capacity: 80 gigabytes), as well as an Iomega ZIP drive and a 56x CD-ROM drive. A 24x/6x CD-R drive and a DVD reader are connected to the SCSI-2 bus, along with a DDS-3 (4mm DAT) Tape Backup. In addition, a dual media Floppy Drive (3½" and 5¾") is also installed on this machine. Sound is provided by a SoundBlaster Live! PCI card. The video subsystem consists of an nVidia GeForce AGP Video adapter, and a Sony 420GS (19") display that has two independent video inputs. For networking, a 3Com 3C509B-TX 10/100 Fast Ethernet adapter has been installed.

On the peripherals side, the following devices are connected: HP LaserJet 1200 and DeskJet 960c Printers, an external US Robotics Courier modem (V.90). The USB subsystem has a 7 port secondary hub attached, serving a Umax 2200U flatbed scanner, a Dazzle multimedia reader, and a Logitech QuickCam.

This machine is dual-boot, running Linux as the primary Operating System, and Microsoft WIndows 2000 Professional as the secondary OS.

« Back

Secondary Server:

This machine is built around Asus P4PE seroes ATX series motherboard, and powered by a 1.8 GHz Pentium 4 processor. The motherboard has an integrated SoundMax AC'97 compatible audio subsystem and a BroadCom 4401 Fast Ethernet network subsystem. An Asus V7100 Pro AGP Video adapter equipped with the nVidia GeForce 2 MX 400 chipset drives a Hitachi SuperScan Elite, 17" monitor. The machine has 512 megabytes of PC2100 memory installed, which can be expanded to a maximum of 2 gigabytes.

Connected to the integrated IDE bus are a 60 gigabyte hard disk and a 52x/24x/52x CD-RW drive. A 3½" floppy drive is also built into the machine. An external US Robotics V.34 Courier modem is connected to this machine, and print services are provided over the network.

The machine is currently single-boot, running Microsoft WIndows 2000 Professional, and I plan to make it a dual-boot system in the future by installing Linux.

« Back

General Purpose Server:

This machine is currently built around a Soyo 5EH series motherboard and powered by a 133 MHz Pentium processor. Currently, only 256 megabytes of memory are installed in this machine. A dual connector USB subsystem is the only integrated device on the motherboard. The IDE bus drives three hard disks with a combined capacity of 57 gigabytes and a 24x CD-ROM drive. In addition to a 3½" diskette drive, a 3.2Gb Iomega Ditto Tape drive is also connected to the system.

The audio subsystem consists of a SoundBlaster AWE64 adapter, and an nVidia GeForce PCI adapter drives a Viewsonic A70 series monitor. A 3Com 3C509B-TX 10/100 Fast Ethernet adapter, an HP DeskJet 612c printer, a Zoom V.90 external modem and a self-powered, four port, secondary USB hub round out the configuration of this machine.

This is my oldest system and was built to host my Bulletin Board System (BBS). It began life with a 16MHz 80286 processor, 1 megabyte of memory, 80 megabytes of disk space, and running MS-DOS. Later, it was upgraded to an 80386SX system and IBM OS/2 version 3.0. After shutting down the BBS, the machine became a test system for use in my business, and for that purpose it was upgraded once more, this time to an 80486 processor. When I began dealing with more esoteric environments, I upgraded it to the current configuration. The only original components left in this machine are the floppy drive and the tape drive, the latter hailing to the 80386SX days.

Today, this machine is used for testing software and to verify Web Sites prior to deployment. It is a multi-boot machine which has the following Operating Systems installed: Microsoft Windows 98, BeOS, FreeBSD and Linux. Other Operating Systems that have been run on this machine include: Digital Research DR-DOS 6, Novell DOS 7, OS/2, SCO Unix SCO Xenix, and TheOS.

« Back

Laptop Computer:

My portable machine is a Sony Vaio PCG-GR390 computer. It came equipped with a 1.2 GHz Pentium III Mobile Processor, 512 megabytes of memory, a 30 gigabyte hard disk, and a removable DVD/CD-RW drive. Sony claims the machine cannot support more than the aforementioned 512 Mb, but it is possible to install up to 1 gigabyte in the form of two 512 Mb memory modules. It is very thin, measuring about one inch in thickness when closed, and weighs 7.14 lbs (3.24 kg).

Its video susbsystem consists of an ATI Mobile Radeon adapter driving a 15" LCD display capable of a maximum resolution of 1400 x 1050. While the machine doesn't have any IR or serial ports, it does have a dual-speed Network adapter, Intel Sound subsystem, three port USB root hub, IEEE-1394 (Firewire) hub, V.90 software modem, parallel port, S-Video output, and a memory stick reader. I purchased a USB floppy drive and a USB optical mouse for the machine.

This computer replaces my previous laptop, a Gateway Solo 2100, which could barely manage to run Windows 98. The Vaio originally came with Microsoft Windows XP Home preinstalled, which I was able to upgrade to Windows 2000 Professional. I also turned it into a dual-boot machine, having installed Linux on it. In due course, I intend to remove Windows altogether and make it a pure Linux system.

I'm pleased to say that Linux runs perfectly on this machine, with every component fully functional. SuSE Linux 8.2 is the only current distribution that runs perfectly out-of-the-box. All other distributions require at the very least, that a custom kernel be built for full hardware support. Because Linux installation procedures for laptops are more involved than for desktops, I wrote a How-To document describing the installation process for this machine and its cousin, the PCG-GR370. I found an email list for Linux on Vaio which is also a very valuable resource.

« Back

Miscellaneous Equipment

Local Area Network:	All of the computers in my Data Centre are equipped with 10/100 Mbit Fast Ethernet interfaces. Two of the servers have 3Com 3C509B-TX PCI cards, one server has an integrated BroadCom 4401 NIC, and the laptop has an integrated EtherExpress Pro 100 NIC. As may be surmised, I prefer the 3Com cards because they are among the most widely supported. The Local Area Network is centered around an 8 port LinkSys Hub that also doubles as a Router and Firewall. The LAN-to-WAN connection is over a Bridge from Efficient Networks, which was supplied by my Network Access Provider. WAN Service is over a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL). All of the network cables are Enhanced Category 5 (CAT-5e) which I ran myself. « Back
Power Redundancy:	Power is supplied to all computers after being filtered through line stabilizing Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS). All four UPS devices have intelligent sensing and monitoring capabilities, and are manufactured by APC. One SmartUPS Battery Backups rated at 1000 VAC is connected to the primary server, and another to the secondary server. A BackUPS Pro unit rated at 500 VAC is connected to the General Purpose server, and the AC service that supplies the laptop is a 350 VAC BackUPS Pro. The three servers monitor their power feeds with APC's PowerChute software. « Back
Other Equipment:	I'm gradually replacing the pointing devices on each computer. The old mice are analog, corded models, while the replacements are corded, optical ones. What I have not decided upon is whether I will stick with Microsoft mice, or switch to ones from Logitech. The former are a lot more comfortable to hold, even though they are also manufactured by Logitech. It really comes down to ethos. For audio playback, each machine has a set of Labtec Speakers connected. I like the brand because they are a great value for the money, give excellent sound reproduction, and their smaller speakers do not necessarily require electrical or battery power in order to work. The speaker system that is attached to the primary server are powered, and include a subwoofer. « Back