[ale] Advice for old equipment use

[Robert E. Karaffa, II]

Hi folks,
    I've just put together two Linux boxes for use as servers for our
clients.  They do web, ftp, AppleShareIP.  We use Webmin for remote admin
(it's fantastic!).  The question:
Both Linux boxes are old.  Gateway P5-200 (200MHz) w/64Mb RAM, two old IDE
HD, and Dell Dimension P90 (100MHz) w/128Mb RAM, new 20Gb HD.

Having said that, these boxes are relied upon to work 24/7.  Data I/O speed
is not critical, and with 10/100 nics they scream!  However, they're old,
recycled computers.  I got them for next to nothing at our Surplus Goods
Dept on campus at Emory.  I had RAM SIMMS lying around, the nics are new,
power supplies and fans all seem to work OK (I de-dusted everything).  So
far, I've not seen any trouble.  Anybody want to chime in here and offer
their thoughts?  I don't want to have to think about this, but it's there
and I have to deal with it.  They have monitors attached, but we rarely use
them (shame to waste a brand new 17-inch monitor, but otherwise it gathers
dust), so they power down most of the time.
    I guess what I'm looking for is advice for the care and feeding of these
boxes.  I'm not yet fluent enough in Linux to back them up in an automated
mode (soon!), nor am I confident enough yet to figure out how to put them
into a semi-sleep mode at off-peak hours.  Any thoughts are much
appreciated.

-Bob K.
-- 
**************************
Robert E. Karaffa, II
Technical Director
Emory University
Flow Cytometry Core Facility
1365 B Clifton Rd., Room B5133
Atlanta, Ga 30322
voice: 404/712-4429
e-mail: rkaraff at emory.edu
**************************


---
This message has been sent through the ALE general discussion list.
See http://www.ale.org/mailing-lists.shtml for more info. Problems should be 
sent to listmaster at ale dot org.