It has been many, many months since the Sun 670 arrived, and it still
isn't running. This is no fault of the staff--the darn thing is,
as one person pointed out, "a beast."
Would it be better to admit defeat and sell the parts for what
we can get for them?
137 responses total.
No. It looks like all the major technical problems are solved, and now the only things remaining are finding time to install software, and operating systems and whatnot. There'd be little point in giving up now.
Heck, why don't we just give up and liquidate the entire Grex operation?
I'll bid $5.00(US).
Dave, there actually is some progress on the 670, it's just slow. Until recently it wouldn't recognize its disks. Mike McNally fixed that. Now it hangs when it does the file system check as it boots. That's the next hurdle in getting it configured and running.
Grex has over $4,000 in the bank. It could afford to swap out the Sun670 on an even faster model, one that would work better with Grex. Must be a place somewhere that would take a 670 as a partial trade-in? If it is such a problem to ever use this 670 right, maybe it should be replaced?
Actually, we have $3,499.84 in the bank, after paying for the routers.
That's a fairly hefty investment that runs a bit of an unpleasant risk.
$3k gets you a computer a lot faster than the 670. but that's not the point here.
Actually, that's just it. We also want something that's reliable, compatible with what we have now, does the things we need, and cheap to run and expand. The 670 is an MP machine, which means it has 2 processors. That means even though it's slower than a uniprocessor machine, it can do more. We care a *lot* more about throughput than we do about speed. Most of the binaries we have on the sun-4 will run unchanged on the 670, and we should be able to just unplug the current /a partition, possibly change one dip settting, and plug it on on the 670.
And we can even add two more processors, although that probably would improve things much unless we also went to solaris.
You mean, would not?
i am sure he meant "would not". Actually there probably would be some benefit to running a second processor even under SunOS, just not as much.
SunOS doesn't have a threaded kernel; so doesn't support symmetric multi-processing. SunOS does have some support for multi-processing, with only one processor in the kernel at a time. On "average", Unix sytems like grex spend about 50% in the kernel. Therefore, 2 processors works well, but more than 2 processors is a waste.
I'm glad to see some progress is being made. Obviously getting the
ISDN line working is a higher priority, but it looks like that should
be done in a week or so. (hope, pray!)
Can anyone tell when the 670 should be ready for use?
Alas, nope. Relax?
Dave, we've gone over this before.
We aren't going to commit to a time table because we all have other
things to do in our lives, like work, sleep, and maybe a few other things
that aren't Grex related.
Yes--progress has been slow. Would that it were not. Progress was
slow on getting to the Sun-4, too, but when we got there, we were on a
stable platform that was secure. So it will be with the 670. I would
*FAR* rather take a year to properly come up on a new platform than
rush into something only to have it be a disaster.
One of M-Net's operating system upgrades immediately comes to mind.
Within days (hours?) of the new system in place, a dear little vandal
found some hole in the system (one of the rdist problems, I believe)
and proceeded to do a "rm -rf /" on the system, wiping out every file
on the system. I remember that, as I was on the system at the time,
and saw various pieces of the system evaporate.
Grex staff has always, always, always been over cautious when working
with things, precisely becuase if we screw up something, we've not only
wasted the original time in making the screwup, but we get to spend the
additional (probably larger) amount of time doing it *again*, to fix the
the first problem!
Lastly, I will point out that just selling the 670 without having
a clear idea of where to go to next would be insane. And, given that
any campaign to dump the 670 and move to an Intel box of some sort
would mean 1) Switching operating systems, 2) recompliling all of
Grex's special software, 2) Testing an entirely new operating system
for security problems. It took about 14 months for us to switch from
the Sun-3 to Sun-4 platforms. Moving completely from this architecture
to an Intel based monstrosity would take even longer.
Has the progression of getting to the 670 moved at the speed of a
wounded snail? Hell yes.
Has Grex managed to upgrade from platform to platfom? Again, hell
yes--there was 1) the move from the Sun-2 to Sun-3, 2) the move from
the Sun-3 to the Sun-4, and 3) currently the move from the Sun-4 to
the Sun-4/670. In several ways this is just as hard, since its the
top-of-the-line older Sun stuff, which most of the staff hasn't had
as much flight time with, since this was the *really* expensive stuff
of its day, moreso than the random Sun-{2,3,4} stuff we've used in
the past.
We will get there.
If STeve and I are talking about the same thing, then I remember the software upgrade he's talking about. At any rate, I remember 15 months ago when m-net did a major upgrade. A catastrophic crash occured, rendering m-net unviable for close to a month, with few exceptions. It was rarely up, and a large number of mnetters left or came to grex. M-net's usership took months to recover, and I don't think it ever really got back under its feet financially (though it was certainly reeling before then, too). I woulnd't want that to happen to grex.
The world is *FULL* of complainers and most of those complainers do not have the wherewithall to do anything about what they compain about, or much else. At least that's been my experiance when I ask a compliner to help out. Sometimes you get lucky thoug :-)
As long as the snail is still moving along, can anyone predict when
it will reach its goal? Six months from now? A year from now?
Obviously security is a major goal. However, getting stuff
operational which was paid for by a fundraising drive quite some
time ago should also be a major goal.
It is a major goal, Dave. Folks are working on it as fast as they can whenever they can. Time is one of the path elements that can't be changed much in an all volunteer, high -skills project. I think most everyone else here understands that. Do you want your money back? Is that the point you're working up to?
I'll stick my neck out Dave, and say six months or less. Plan on Six months, like when the ice of winter '97 is thawing.
"fundraising drive quite some time ago". That time ago was the July board meeting, two months ago. A mere blink of the eye, in grex time.
(Dave is referring to the fundraising drive for the new computer, which ran from Januray through March of this year. You're thinking of the ISDN drive, Bill.)
re 19: When I donated funds to the ISDN drive, it was with no condition on how soon staff had to implement installation. When it comes to shared computing environments such as Grex, only a fool would rush an upgrade job. The folks we have on staff here bhave been around computers long enough to know what they're doing. I've been around computers long enough to know that the staff aren't blowing smoke when they tell us it'll be a few months. Security and stability win out over fast implementation any day.
("Natalie Drest"?)
I believe I remember "Natalie Drest" as one of the people in the closing credits of "A Prairie Home Companion."
(Um, yeah. Along with Norman Conquest, Immanuel Transmission, etc)
When the ice thaws next spring sounds like a good goal to me. No, of course I don't want my money back! 8-)
Thank you staff for all the work and frustration you have endured on the 670. I've been following the progress and sympathyzing. If I knew anything about SunOS I'd offer to help, but I'd be a hinderance on this one.
The only "help" I can offer is moral support, pop, and cookies. Let me know about the next group work session and I'll be there with baked goods!
Now, thats a thought...
out of curiosity, can we get an update on the upgrade progrees? thanks.
Next step is to install SunOS on the machine. We are currently running an old version of SunOS on Grach, and we can't copy over the version from Grex because the software for multiprocessor architectures is slightly different. So we have to do a fresh installation from the CD. We have two CDs. One is the SunOS 4.1.3_U1 version that we are running here. Greg has it, but can't find it, and doesn't think it includes the multiprocessor stuff anyway. The other is a SunOS 4.1.4 CD that Jared donated. STeve has it, it's in his car, but it hasn't made it to the pumpkin in the last few weeks. When and if a installation disk appears, someone will have to actually do the install and copy over Grex's software. Odds are, this is me. I expect to be able to do most of it in a solid days work, though there are a few sticky issues with libc that may take a bit longer to figure out. After that, it will mostly be a question of doing a good security sweep of the system.
STeve got the CD to me after the board meeting last night. I've done the base install, and will be doing the Sun patches, then the Grex mods soon.
yippiyyippiyyippiy-o-day!
Yay Jan! Cool beans!
Great!!
I think I've completed the first pass of software installation on the 4/670. Nearly all of Grex's custom software has been copied over and installed. We still need to do our kernal modifications and a whole lot of testing.
I spent Sunday afternoon working on the kernel configuration for the 4.1.4 kernel to meet Grex's specific needs, and working on the installation of the kernel blocks. This is complete now, and the machine has been rebooted to run on the new kernel but there are still a number of other things to take care of before we can begin the final testing and security checks. We have to figure out where to put the mail spool for one thing. This was definitely a good weekend for progress on the 670. I'm not at all sure how long the remaining work will take.
Steve Weiss has rebuilt the 670's kernel, so it now has all the latest Grex mods. What's basically left to do now is a variety of minor software work (like the latest version of Backtalk isn't there yet), a lot of testing to make sure that all the programs work OK, and some double-checking to ensure that all our security is correctly installed. Then we have to generate our change-over plan. A lot of things on Grex are continously changing, so they cannot be moved to the new system until we actually make the change. To make sure we get it all, we need to make a plan.
I suggest that the move not take place during the board election (i.e. December 1-15).
fine suggetion, agreed.
I presume Grex will have to be shut down during the actual changeover?
Yes, probably for between half a day and a full day.
I'm not exactly sure why doing the change-over during the election period would be a problem. As long as we move over the vote directory, it should not interfere with the election.
If all goes well. Is there any chance at all that changing over could result in Grex being unavailable for a couple days or longer? It would be nice if the vote could come off, as planned, without the need for extensions and added confusion as to deadlines.
Ya, I'd rather not do the changeover during the voting period.
I think the chances of that are small. We aren't erasing the old system when we bring up the new system. If there are any snags in bringing up the new system, we can always fall back to the old system. This assumes that we don't screw up badly enough to leave both systems un-workable. This is possible, of course, but pretty unlikely.
If the new system is up for a little while, some people cast votes, and then we have to go back to the old system because of some unforseen problem, the votes that were cast on the new system could get lost. Unlikely perhaps, but possible.
Well, we are basically ready to switch except that we need to do a security sweep and probably a bit more testing. There is no particular reason that this couldn't be done before December, but there are only a few people really qualified to do a good security sweep and it's a matter of one of those people finding time. If we don't make it before, I guess we can wait till after.
I'd hate to have the new computer sit around unused for a month, once it is ready to be used.
I'd rather see the 4/670 wait until *after* the voting period. And remember
I've been one of the people jumping up and down about delays!
I (and others) have suffered through several M-Net upgrades which
turned out beneficial in the long run, but caused maddening delays/
service outages/whatnot in the meantime. We may *think* a System
change of the magnitude we contemplate will go smoothly. But I've
been down that trail of forlorn hopes too many times.
I'm extremely confident that the changeover would be accomplished without significant delay or outage, but I think I agree that it makes sense to hold off on the switch until after the election, just for the sake of organizational expediency. Besides, I'm a candidate and I'm terribly curious to know the outcome <grin>. Seriously, though, the staff has done this type of major upgrade on Grex a couple of times in the last few years, to the Sun 3, then to the current machine, and I'm sure that between the lot of them, they've covered almost every possible contingency which would result in any major problem. You folks are incredible! But the extra delay won't kill anybody, and it just makes me all warm and fuzzy to think of the election going of in a timely fashion followed by starting the new year on the new machine.
Yeah, I agree with John, et. al., that we ought not to interrupt the vote. I hope this doesn't break your momentum, Jan! But we've waited 10 1/2 months already; we can afford to wait another two weeks.
Even if there are no problems, we're likely to have a good part of a day of downtime in the changeover, right? Not good in the middle of a vote.
The total downtime expected is probably around 8 hours, but of course it is not easy to predict. Presumably it would happen on a weekend, when the load is lightest. Well, I did my part last weekend to ready the 670 for use, though I have not spent the most time of any staffer. If there is going to be no more progress on it until January -- I'll be honest here, I wouldn't have bothered if I had known that it was going to sit around for 5 weeks after I got done. I felt pretty strongly that the Grex supporters had pumped a lot of money into this machine and deserved to get to use it ASAP. Further, I can see clear evidence that we are hurting badly due to our current machine's inadequacies. When we do switch over, the same risks will be there affecting other activities if not the vote. Something is always going on on Grex. In other words, I disagree with you all about this, but I'll just go away and work on something else.
(The election ends December 15th, right? So we don't need to wait until January.)
Steve, we're not really talking about a very long delay. I'm surprised that you're taking this view. i think the only reason those of us who advocate the delay do so is because of the fundamental operational importance to Grex of timely board elections, especially at a time when the organization is likely to come under review for 501(c)3 consideration. I most definitely appreciate all the hard work you and the other members of the staff have put into preparing Grex for the move, and it is not at all my desire to delay it. I just think it is a reasonable and sensible precaution.
I was thinking it would take us through December, So it is not as much of a delay as I had realized. It is up to someone else to do a security sweep on the OS, and then there is still a matter of finding a disk to hold the mail spool. Presumably that could be done in a few days, but it's my worry that no one is going to work on this for a while. It may be a simple precaution you are asking for, but it demotivates working on the system. I jumped on the project, pushing a few things out of the way, with no idea that it would then get put on hold. That was the cause of my resentment. I was under the impression we really wanted this project ASAP. You all blindsided me by asking for a delay. That's why I reacted as I did. It now looks like a bit of an overreaction. I honestly hope that the security and other issues are dealt with in the next week or so, so that we can go live with the 4/670 on December 16.
Thank you for being big enuf to admit you over-reacted a bit. I completely understand how you felt: I've put in massive effort to get something done by a deadline that was then pushed back. It kinda stings at first, but as long as you don't nurse it, the resentment dies a lonely, painless death. :)
I have been there too, and I'm sorry so see it inflicted on Steve & Jan and the rest of the staff. (Frankly, I didn't realize you all were that close to being ready.) I hope we can switch over as soon after the election as possible.
The work had to be done sooner or later. Sitting around for half a month doesn't change that. Many of the big projects I work on never even see the light of day because of management cuts, etc. You get use to it.
The sad thing is that while, yes, in theory there isn't more than a few days of work to be done to get Grex switched over, in practice it is likely to be a while before the appropriate people find time to do that work. When is unpredictable. Yes, we could be up on the 670 three days from now, but in real life there is going to be some random sized interval before that happens. I worry that people will see the election as an excuse to delay doing work now, and thus lose what momentum we have. But most likely we'll use the December 12 staff meeting as a rabble-rousing session and see if we can get things moving again then. "A New Grex for the New Year!" "Rah, Rah, Rah!"
Is this primarily work that needs to be done on the 670 before the actual switch-over?
Yes.
Can't we set the end of the election as the target date for the cutover? (Oooh, just what dpc likes, a deadline! :) ) If the cutover goes sour we can always announce the election results on M-net.
Yes, krj, I *do* like your suggestion for a deadline. 8-)
But seriously, I think that if we aim for December 16 we'll probably
get there.
By the way, how much of a speed increase will we get on the 670?
As srw says, we are *really* hurting on the present machine. Load averages
routinely over 20 are quite discouraging.
Didn't Marcus say he was expecting the 670 to be about 5 times faster?
I've heard estimates that range from 2 to 5 times faster, though mostly it's hard to predict.
It's hard to estimate, because the 670 is a multiprocessing machine (2 CPU's) and we don't know what effect that will have. Certainly, it will be faster, but how much faster is a guess.
Yup, also the 670 has more "contexts" than the current Grex, which means that it can "remember" what more people are doing before it starts having to write the information to disk (swapping). We're not sure exactly how much it will speed up Grex to have more contexts.
Someone could be doing a security check on the machine right now instead of waiting until later.
Yea, staff!!! (Just kind of in general.)
Valerie says that the staff will try to get the 670 working in January and not before, because they're worried about what would happen if we tried to get the thing up and then staff left for the holidays, followed by a crash.
That's a very reasonable precaution. New hardware of this sort shouldn't be set up and then left alone, even for a week's vacation. Newly-installed equipment can die despite staff's best efforts; a component may fail, etc.
Right. We'd hate to be stuck with stores closed, staffers preferring to spend time with family rather than in the pumpkin getting it back together.
Actually, I think staff was ready to do this in early December, but the general opinion was that because of the board election, we should not switch machines at that time. So we waited until after Dec 15, but by then we are too close to the holidays. So now we are waiting until January. The machine is ready to go. I just received the additional memory for it to bring it to 64M. I got a pretty good deal on it, too, only $248 bottom line for 16 9bit 30pin SIMMs. Some security checks have been done already, although I would like to see a few more done. There's nothing to stop that except to get time from the relevant security experts on the staff. So right now early January looks pretty realistic.
(That's "bring it to 128M.")
D'oh. 64+64= 128. Yeah. I added 64 to the 64 that were there.
s'ok, it coulda been 63.99999999M ya know...
I thought I'd resurrect this item because our load average is around
19. The last I heard of the 670, Steve Andre had volunteered
to make some time on his calendar to do the final security checks
needed to start the 670 working.
Do we know when this might happen?
19 is pretty low for Grex's load average. The system is usually pretty usable into the mid 20's. However, the dial-ins are insanely lagged since they moved to the terminal server, so that's probably the problem you're seeing. I'm not sure about STeve's calendar.
What would be the reason for lag on the modems? I don't follow.
maybe i'm not too bright, but... since "the dialins are insanely lagged since they moved to the terminal server.." *again* ... WTF put them there? turn on my light, ok?
The modems are on the terminal server so they can run faster, and so that there is no ALM (serial card) needed on the 670. However, there seems to be some kind of lag effect that started *before* the move to the termial server, which right now I am thinking is line noise.
Line noise related to Ameriwreck work done recently and mentioned in another item?
Calling Steve Andre. Calling Steve Andre. Come in, Steve! 8-)
STeve is busy right now. Please leave a message at the sound of the tone,
and STeve will get back to you. Thank you.
<g>
*beep*
Advantages of the terminal server:
- All modems can be run at 14.4K instead of a few at 9600 and the rest
at 2400.
- Reduction of CPU load on Grex from serial I/O interupts. These were
especially bad when people zmodemed files to Grex.
- Possible reduction of flakiness of Grex. Some of the crashs Grex
was having a while back may have been related to ALM card problems.
There are also hints of other problems being caused by bad behavior
of the ALM card.
- Elimination of worries about compatibility of ALM card with 4/670.
The ALM cards are old and dubious technology. They may be causing
problems with the newer 4/260 CPU. They are even more likely to be
a source of problems with a much newer 4/670 CPU.
- Reduction of power consumption. At a guess, we'll probably be using
$5 to $10 less electricity per month without the ALM card. This also
means less heat in the Pumpkin.
Disadvantages of the terminal server:
- The "please wait a bit" delay. We may be able to improve this.
- Some teething problems with lag and lost data that we will almost
certainly be able to fix, and probably have no relation to the terminal
server.
Anytime we make any change, there are likely to be short-term problems, some
real, some imaginary. It's the price of doing business.
Saving power will be great, if someone will PLEASE MEASURE OUR FREAKIN' CONSUMPTION, because otherwise we will keep paying what we are now, which is based on a measurement from over 2 years ago (of the Sun 3).
Re 91: Just about every month at the monthly staff meeting we talk about this and someone or other says that they will go measure Grex's power consumption. It doesn't seem to matter who volunteers to do it; it never does happen. We definitely need to measure Grex's power usage. I'm amazed at how long it's taking.
Can a meter be installed?
Can a Steve Andre-detector be installed? 8-)
If someone has an old home electric meter it would be easy to wire it to plug in the wall and the sun plug into it. Property disposal used to have some for $5.00 but I haven't been there for some time.
We've got tools to measure power consumption, it's just that it is a real pain to do (hint: Grex has to be shut down twice...)
You could plug it in when grex is down sometime, you really dont have to remove the meter afterward unless you wanted to use it elsewhere.
The last time STeve measured the power it was with a clamp-on ammeter and a power cable split so one lead could be clamped around. Easy to split power cables without turning things off (v..e..r..y carefully...). So, why not do it without shutting down the system?
Most of grex's power cables are the round kind with the really tough outer insulation. So far as I know, none of the staff has a death wish.
And the power goes thru multiple cables to multiple outlets. Maybe from the breaker box, wherever *that* is in the building...
I've been to Grex's breaker box. To get there, you need a landlord with a key, and you need to go through another tenant's space.
Maybe we could put the clamp-on ammeter across the ears of the 670, repass the bylays, turn on the power at the breaker box, and see if the 670 will rise from the dead! 8-)
Each cable can be measured separately. It might be useful to prepare some pigtails - short jumper cables with M/F connectors on ends - with the wires separated, and put them in the current cables some time the system is down. Then you can clamp anytime you like. Or better, get an extension cord that has a cable you can split, which has a multiple outlet junction box on the end.
I toured the pumpkin today, there's no simple way to do it. There are too many hook ups.
Well, I haven't been there, but that sounds somewhat defeatist.
Oh, it's doable, but not easy. Rane: we have a quad extension cable with the wires seperated. It's just not enough to plug everything, and I wouldn't put everything on one outlet anyway.
So, get another quad ext cable with separated wires?
We have an electrical meter of the type used residential by Detroit Edison, and the appropriate socket (don't ask where we got it). The socket does not have the cable clamps, they would have to be made. The meters are sold by some place in Detroit, don't know where to buy a socket. Any interest in this? We would like it back eventually. WOrks on 220.
<sigh> We *have* the tools, just not the discipline to do the work.
According to the MOTD, someone found thetime to take care of this. Thanks, folks!
Unfortunately, we'll have to wait a bit more for Steve Andre to do the security check on the 670. At the budget meeting on Sunday, he said he needed to get some authoritative lists of potential security flaws. President Jan and others said that we couldn't just fix the most likely flaws; we have to do the complete list because Grex is attacked so often by vandals. He called this necessary wait a pain in the ass. Which it is. But we can't risk putting up the 670 until it's done.
Scott measured the power! It's about 10 amps. Thanks Scott!
Is that 10 amps 24 h/day?
DAVE!!! You were also specifically asked not to discuss that in public.
Power doesn't come in amps - that's the current. I've often wondered - what is the power factor of computer equipment?
Dave, it's extremely unseemly of you to spread confidential information. I'd have thought better of you.
The fact that we don't have a list was *not* confidential. What *was* confidential I didn't enter (obviously).
I wasn't at the meeting, but nothing in #111 struck me as sensitive.
Please don't misconstrue this question. I do not mean to attack Dave Cahill (or anyone else) in any way. Why does Dave have secure information for Grex? As far as I know, he isn't in any administrative or staff position for Grex, and shouldn't be privy to such information, unless he's offering legal services to Grex, or operating in some other "need to know" capacity. Why is a non-staffer in possession of system security information about Grex?
Probably because he showed up at the meeting. (I didn't, I don't know what was discussed.)
having attended the meeting, and being neither staff nor board, i can say that the only information discussed which was of a sensitive nature was not terribly sensitive in and of itself, but just fell under the category of information which it really doesn't benefit anyone to publicize. no big deal, just common sense stuff. don't waste your time asking me for any more details, they will not be forthcoming.
Rane, my 486 pulls 6-8 amps, with a monochrome vga, thru an inveter. with deration for power loss figure 5-6 amps grid. turn on the printer and it pulls another 6-8.
Frankly, jep, I didn't think *anything* discussed at the budget meeting
fell into the category of sensitive security stuff. Besides, as you
well know, if some such things had been discussed I wouldn't have
understood them. 8-)
I had intended #111 to be just another in my series of responses
saying essentially "no progress on the 670". A snoresville response.
I don't think we'll *ever* get the 670 up, so my suggestion
in #0, that we dispose of the 670, looks like an increasingly good
idea. And #0 was entered five months ago today!
(Wow! Patric! That is one heck of an amp-hungry printer and 486 machine you have there. What voltage was that current measured at?)
Was anything said at last night's staff meeting about finishing the security work on the 670? Or about finding an alternative if Steve Andre can't do it in a reasonable time?
#119 was a pointed question. Nothing should be discussed in a public meeting which is not public knowledge. Anything discussed at the last Board meeting should be (and probably is) available to anyone who's interested.
This stimulated me to measure my system. It draws overall about 1.4 amps (ca. 160 watts). The CPU takes most of that. I can't even measure the printers when they aren't printing.
> Nothing should be discussed in a public meeting which is not public > knowledge. Good point.
Mine is all old equipment. The Measurments are from 12 v thru a very
efficient inverter. I under stand if you shop the right components you can
get the whole system under 4 amps at 117v. 12v would probably be 5-6 amps
which still beats the old equipment by a lot. Any one wanting low draw systems
should call Air Castle Enterprises ( or computers, iforget which) in
Southfield.
If anybody has a CPU to upgrade my 486sx please mail me info.
(4 A @ 117 v ~ 468 watts; 6 A @ 12 v ~ 72 watts, therefore inverter efficiency = 468 W / 72 W ~ 650%... Dang good! ;-)
Did i mention math is not my strong point? The 12v is measured, i don't have an ac ammeter yet so my 2 am guestimate @may be a little off.@
(The power supply in my HP 486DX/66 is rated for 70 watts. The monitor is about 200 watts.)
Is that measured, or only "rated"?
Has anyone converted the 10amps number reported above into dollars/month? I'm not sure if I'm doing this right: (10 amps) (110 volts) = (1100 watts) = 1.1 kilowatts (1.1 kilowatts) (24 hours/day) ( 30 days/month ) = 792 kilowatt-hours/month Looking at some of my electric bills, it looks like Det Ed charges about 10 cents per kilowatt hour (or a bit less - about 0.095 dollars per kilowatt hour). (792 kilowatt-hours/month) (0.095 dollars/kilowatt-hour) = $75.24 / month Maybe I should be using 120 volts instead of 110. Then it would be $82 per month.
The figures look right. It's a power hog.
power factor frm a cpu is most likely not too darn large since sewitching power supplkies are used and they tend not to have monster transformers with lots of inductance lag (therefore a bad power factor). if the voltage is actually running around 118-120, using 110 for figuring watts is probably about right - at least close enough i would guess. i know weh ahve some honking disks on that machine... even so that 10 amps does seem a bit much.. was that rms amps or peak amps?
I'm freezing this item because it's drifted. Maybe someone should start a new "power" item.
You have several choices: