[9fans] Minimalist cpu hardware (was: 9grid)

[9fans] Minimalist cpu hardware (was: 9grid)

[John Barham]

I've been wondering about the minimal h/w you'd need for a cpu server
and whether it exists in a compact blade-like form.  Conceivably all a
plan 9 cpu server needs is cpu, ram, pxe ethernet and all the gunk
necessary to get it to boot, i.e., no video, no i/o ports, no disk
controllers etc. that otherwise just burn power.  I'm imagining
something small enough that four blades could fit into a standard size
tower chassis that you could stick under your desk and not worry about
it electrocuting your kids (although fan noise might be an issue).
The likes of rackable just seem to sell full-blown servers in a blade
form-factor, for a premium.

Given that you can buy a motherboard w/ all the bells and whistles, 4
gb of ram and a nice multi-core 64-bit cpu for $300, the raw material
for such a board in theory should cost less.

I think the mainstream market is there in applications like image
processing or rendering animations--although presumably not so much in
the finance sector nowadays--where the data lives on dedicated file
servers.  If the price was low enough it could even be attractive to
hobbyists running pov-ray or what not.  But if such a thing existed it
would also be the basis for a nice plan 9 cpu cluster.

Any recommendations?

  John

Re: [9fans] Minimalist cpu hardware (was: 9grid)

[Steve Simon]

An Intel Atom D945GCLF mini ITX was reccomended to me, I believe
it is all supported by plan9 and draws very little power. I was
going to use one to replace a large noise server I have at home.

They also have a new dual core version though I think it has less
useful I/O for my needs.

http://www.tranquilpc-shop.co.uk/acatalog/Motherboards.html

-Steve

Re: [9fans] Minimalist cpu hardware (was: 9grid)

[ron minnich]

On Wed, Nov 12, 2008 at 2:46 AM, Steve Simon <steve@quintile.net> wrote:
> An Intel Atom D945GCLF mini ITX was reccomended to me, I believe
> it is all supported by plan9 and draws very little power. I was
> going to use one to replace a large noise server I have at home.
>
> They also have a new dual core version though I think it has less
> useful I/O for my needs.
>

These are nice. Fry's has been selling these for $70, which is quite
amazing. You still have to buy memory.

Now, you don't want a full power supply, that's painful, so get some of these:
http://www.mini-box.com/s.nl;jsessionid=0a0101421f4356284d3c2c974403b027b20e8be62ce5.e3eSc3iSaN0Le34Pa38Ta38Oah10?sc=8&category=13

ron

Re: [9fans] Minimalist cpu hardware (was: 9grid)

[John Barham]

On Wed, Nov 12, 2008 at 2:46 AM, Steve Simon <steve@quintile.net> wrote:
> An Intel Atom D945GCLF mini ITX was reccomended to me, I believe
> it is all supported by plan9 and draws very little power. I was
> going to use one to replace a large noise server I have at home.

Nice, but I'm envisioning something w/ more horsepower, in the core 2
or athlon 64 x2 class, but in a comparably sized form-factor.

  John