What to do with an 486?????

[SoNgOkO]

I was just wondering if there is anything usefull to do with an 486 i have an MOBO, AMD 486DX2 80 Mhz CPU and RAM.... So any suggestions what to do with it besides putting it in to a museum ???


THANX

[kenzhang]

my suggestion is....donate it. :P

[David]

Internet gateway/firewall?

try putting linux on it - you might even get a gui!

[SoNgOkO]

What is an Internet gateway/firewall??????????
How much disk space do u need for LINUX?????

[David]

I think you will get Linux (command line) on a 100MB HDD easily.
Post in the Alternative OS section for more help/info.

[Godfodda]

Originally posted by SoNgOkO
I was just wondering if there is anything usefull to do with an 486 i have an MOBO, AMD 486DX2 80 Mhz CPU and RAM.... So any suggestions what to do with it besides putting it in to a museum ???


I vote for Win95 and set it up as a SETI machine. :)

[David]

Originally posted by Godfodda


I vote for Win95 and set it up as a SETI machine. :)

I would recomend linux - a learning experience as well as useful for folding and seti. an 80MHz CPU will take Days to complete a WU!

[SoNgOkO]

I still don-t know what an Internet gateway/firewall is??????????

What does WU stand for?????

[David]

Originally posted by SoNgOkO
I still don-t know what an Internet gateway/firewall is??????????

What does WU stand for?????

A firewall is a protection against hackers on the internet. A gateway is how your PC connects to PCs outwith the firewall.

Check out the seti and folding boards. A WU is a Work Unit - a packet of work that your PC downloads, works on, and sends back completed.

[flounder43]

WU=work unit, commonly used in the the context of distributed computing like Seti@home or Folding@home.

Internet gateway/firewall just implies you use the computer to act as a sort of router, through which you get your access to the internet. Usually used for security or to share internet access between several computers.

flounder43

[SoNgOkO]

:pTHANX:p

How to set up an Internet gateway/firewall what do i need????

[David]

I would definately recomend using it for SETI or folding. Put it to use at something helpful.

[sfa ok]

SETI, it's too slow for folding.

[SoNgOkO]

Hmm that folding stuff is really ql. But i have a prob I have 3 pc-s at home and only 1 monitor.:( So i can forget about folding on the other 2 pc-s that i have.

[Bmxpunk86pl]

SHove some GUI os in there, hell, i got my 25mhz laptop with 2 megs of space and a 80 meg hard drive to run win 95. (If u install win 95 with the compact option,it only takes like 40 megs).

[David]

Originally posted by SoNgOkO
Hmm that folding stuff is really ql. But i have a prob I have 3 pc-s at home and only 1 monitor.:( So i can forget about folding on the other 2 pc-s that i have.

KVM?
VMC?

You can hook up 3 pcs to 1 monitor.

[David]

Originally posted by SoNgOkO
:pTHANX:p

How to set up an Internet gateway/firewall what do i need????
Goto www.freesco,org - download it - put it on a floppy and boot off it.

[SoNgOkO]

KVM?
VMC?
What does that mean?????
Don-t be so suprised if i ask someting stupid i am new to this site of computing.

How do i hook up 3 pc-s to 1 monitor and what do i need???


THANX

[sfa ok]

A kvm is a switch that lets you share Keyboard/Video/Mouse between computers. A free way of doing this is through VNC, which is free remote control software.

http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/

[SoNgOkO]

So all i need is an KVM switch and the CVN software??? Am i right???

[flounder43]

Originally posted by SoNgOkO
So all i need is an KVM switch and the CVN software??? Am i right???

You don't need both.

One or the other will do. VNC just allows you to view the other comps over the network.

The KVM physically switches between the computers.

[SoNgOkO]

Aha so that is how it goes!!!!!!!!!

THANX

[SoNgOkO]

Which solution is the better one ??? KVM or VNC???

[cjlax5]

i say you film yourself throwing the 486 off a building, then give use a link to the video :D

[SoNgOkO]

say you film yourself throwing the 486 off a building, then give use a link to the video
LOL:D

If it weren-t for that folding stuff i would probably do that :)

[Godfodda]

VNC is easy and cheap (it's free!). KVM is easy and somewhat expensive.

If you're looking at folding, check with the guys in the folding forum to see what the expiration time is on their WUs. I read in there a while back that slow machines tend to not be good for that since the work units expire within a few days. SETI work units are good for 28 days, I believe.

Perhaps you could toss the old machine into the SETI team and your newer machines into Folding. (Of course, we wouldn't mind having those on the SETI team either. ;)).

[nil_esh]

Linux or FreeBSD will run great on a 486. As long as you got at least 8 megs of RAM (though 16 would be better). Xfree86 (a GUI) will run nicely too (though kinda slow). My university had a whole lab full of 486's running FreeBSD and Xfree86, and this was in 1999, it was good to see the old technology being put to good use.

I'm not sure Folding WU's would complete in time on a 486. though..

[nil_esh]

Originally posted by SoNgOkO
Which solution is the better one ??? KVM or VNC???

If you plan on using Linux or FreeBSD, you can always just use telnet for shell access (shell access is text based no gui). VNC is good for GUI access and works great with Windows. Don't buy a KVM just to use a 486, that's too much money to spend.

Though I want a 4-way KVM myself.. I got a Dreamcast with VGA/mouse/keyboard that I want to hook up and a coupla PC's too.

[touser]

might i also suggest you put smoothwall on it, it is also a firewall, but the best of its kind IMHO,much better then any floppy based firewall..and a 486 could easily run it..i run it myself! www.smoothwall.org

[JigPu]

Originally posted by Godfodda
SETI work units are good for 28 days, I believe.
Actually, you'll get credit for the WU no matter how long it takes you to turn it in. It's just that after a few weeks (probably the 28 days :rolleyes: ) they will assume that it isn't coming back, and give it to someone else.

Optimal SETI completion times for an average WU would be 304.09 hours (304 hr 5 min) (12.6 days). Of course, if you use it at all (like you ever would actually USE such an archaic machine :D ), then your times will increase. Also, just leaving it alone will probably still take a little longer than the optimal time.

JigPu

[Godfodda]

Originally posted by JigPu

Actually, you'll get credit for the WU no matter how long it takes you to turn it in. It's just that after a few weeks (probably the 28 days :rolleyes: ) they will assume that it isn't coming back, and give it to someone else.

Thanks for the note JigPu. I didn't know that. I just purged my son's system today of several uncompleted cached units. Wish I'd have known about that before or else I wouldn't have trashed them. Good tip.

[Yodums]

Believe it or not but Seti will lag the hell out of that machine not worth it.

Put Linux or something and learn it or something make it useful or donate it to school who can't have computers.

Yodums

[David]

I would say definately put linux on it - although I would advise using it for folding/seti as well.