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Grex > Coop10 > #75: What to do with our ICNET connection lines | |
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| Author |
Message |
aruba
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What to do with our ICNET connection lines
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Jan 29 14:24 UTC 1998 |
We are currently paying about $40/month for the two phone lines that we used
to use to connect Grex to our old 28.8 Internet connection at ICNET. Since
we got the ISDN line, these lines have been lying dormant.
Question: what should we do with these lines? One of them is at ICNET (we
pay them $20 a month for it), so we can't use it for anything other than the
original use. The other one could be put into our regular dial-in queue if
we so desired. Of course we could also just cancel both lines and save
$40/month.
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| 26 responses total. |
mta
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response 1 of 26:
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Jan 29 16:34 UTC 1998 |
Weren't we thinking of using them together to download our mail, thereby
eliminating the competition between mail and users for resources?
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other
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response 2 of 26:
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Jan 29 16:37 UTC 1998 |
Does that work?
If so, would one line suffice? Could we have one line dedicated to mail
transfer, and if so, would there be any significant benefit?
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scg
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response 3 of 26:
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Jan 29 19:39 UTC 1998 |
If we're going to use it for mail, we need both lines (one for each end of
the connection).
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janc
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response 4 of 26:
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Jan 29 20:28 UTC 1998 |
Yeah, it would work. The problem with this plan is that we need a computer
to set up as a mail machine. Probably a 486 PC would suffice. I think we
have most of the parts of such a machine except the CPU and the disk itself.
Once we have the machine, we need to install Unix on it (one of the Free BSDs.
Maybe OpenBSD). This isn't going to be as hard a process as setting up a new
Grex machine, because users will not be logging on to this machine, so
security is much simpler.
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toking
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response 5 of 26:
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Jan 30 17:56 UTC 1998 |
uhmmm.....I htink I can get a 486 DX processor for like $30...but I"m
not too confident of the source <and there would be no waranty or
anything...
<local computer surplus store...>
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aruba
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response 6 of 26:
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Jan 30 21:57 UTC 1998 |
Actually, I have a 486 DX-33 chip that Grex could have for free, if it will
help. (I don't have a motherboard, though.)
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arthurp
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response 7 of 26:
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Jan 31 18:09 UTC 1998 |
I have a DX/2 66 that I'll donate. I haven't run it, though so I'll
check that it is alive. I may be able to come up with a motherboard as
well, but it also is currently in the forgotten state of operation.
Stand by.
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other
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response 8 of 26:
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Jan 31 18:14 UTC 1998 |
mnet has some 386 boxes, and they might be willing to sell one. could we then
just swap out the processor?
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scg
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response 9 of 26:
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Jan 31 22:13 UTC 1998 |
Nope. 386 motherboards aren't compatible with 486 CPUs (except in the case
of some CPUs designed as upgrades for 386 boards, but those won't work as well
as a real 486 on a real 486 board).
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jared
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response 10 of 26:
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Feb 1 00:49 UTC 1998 |
Silly kids..
The staff people that have access to the utilization graphs for the
internet link should be able to see that average internet utilization is
such that you could down half of the isdn line and nobody would notice.
The traffic paterns are so consistent it's remarkable. Utilization
is 63.1k on average. It peaks up to the full line size, but that's
only 128k. As for what to do with the phone line, i'm not sure.
the system has been very responsive though with the fast net connection
(as for no lag), so I would not be concerned about link utilization (yet).
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gibson
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response 11 of 26:
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Feb 1 04:16 UTC 1998 |
I'ld like to upgrade from a 486 sx if anybody has a better cpu to fit
for sale. Drop me a line.
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janc
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response 12 of 26:
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Feb 1 16:38 UTC 1998 |
I've never seen those link utilization graphs. How does one see them?
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scg
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response 13 of 26:
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Feb 1 17:12 UTC 1998 |
I'll send Jan mail with the URL for the graphs. I don't know if Jared wants
his web server being hit by lots of Grexers looking at them.
We seem to occasionaly hit peak capacity on the ISDN line, but it's normally
about half full. We could cram some more stuff down it if we wanted to, but
I think the rationalle for using a separate link for mail was to save excess
capacity on the ISDN link for future use.
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jared
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response 14 of 26:
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Feb 1 17:36 UTC 1998 |
I want no actual grexers hitting that page
it's for staff use only
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scott
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response 15 of 26:
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Feb 1 17:47 UTC 1998 |
We should consider those analog lines to be of our total Internet link.
If we are worried about the higher (suprise) cost of our ISDN lines, we can
save money by scaling back from 128 + 28.8 to just 128.
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janc
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response 16 of 26:
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Feb 2 16:43 UTC 1998 |
Re: buidling a 486 system to user as a mail server.
Dan was saying the ohter day that he wasn't confident that the motherboard
in the box we have works. So we may (or may not) need more than a CPU and
a disk.
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dang
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response 17 of 26:
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Feb 2 21:24 UTC 1998 |
Now that I think of it, I think it was the CPU that was dead, not the
motherboard. I don't know.
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other
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response 18 of 26:
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Feb 3 07:09 UTC 1998 |
486 boxes are being listed regularly in the classifieds in the AA News, for
varying prices...
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arthurp
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response 19 of 26:
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Feb 4 02:36 UTC 1998 |
I've tested the system. I have for grex at no charge:
486 DX/2 66
VESA LB motherboard (8 30 pin SIMM slots)
Trident VLB video card
VLB IDE & I/O card
I'll also donate setup and testing if I get a case and drives to go in
it. If grex has a dead system, maybe that solves the case problem?
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scg
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response 20 of 26:
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Feb 4 06:38 UTC 1998 |
I've got a hard drive around here somewhere that Jeff Kaplan donated to Grex,
so that could go in it if it's big enough. I forget how big that drive is.
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rickyb
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response 21 of 26:
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Feb 4 16:45 UTC 1998 |
I've got a couple of cases (desk, not tower). If you need one, let me know.
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scott
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response 22 of 26:
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Feb 4 17:03 UTC 1998 |
Grex has a 486 case we can use.
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arthurp
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response 23 of 26:
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Feb 5 02:32 UTC 1998 |
Cool. How might I be able to put this thing together for grex? Where
would this case be, and how might I get my hands on it?
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janc
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response 24 of 26:
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Feb 5 06:41 UTC 1998 |
The case is in the pumpkin. I'll be happy to facilitate getting it to you
to set up. Either meet you at the pumpkin if you want to pick it up, or
deliver it someplace convenient. We need to find the drive from Kaplan and
figure out if it is big enough for our purposes.
Since this machine will be buffering mail, it will probably need to have a
moderately large drive. However if the Kaplan drive is at least big enough
to install OpenBSD or NetBSD or whatever on, then it would be worth getting
started with. We can always install a second drive.
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