At the college I work for, we used our existing steam pipes to hold the fiber connecting buildings on campus...absolutely perfect conduit, and didn't require trenching (much) on our historic property. Plus, a bomb could level the school, and we'd still have network (although if no one is here to use it, is it really a network?)
Well, we're not "Intel Whores" (hehe)...but we like the options that VA Linux gives in rackmount systems. If there are other vendors out there that can provide an AMD solution that is rackmount, and can certify that their RAID solutions will run with Linux, I'd love to find out. We'll likely have a RAID5 array of LVD disks, and we're expecting to have about 150 connections at any one time, but Xeon is definitely not a price option. I would love to see us move towards an Athlon platform. I've been using AMD for quite some time on my home systems, and I feel quite confident in their CPUs.
I'd love to get something better than an Intel box to run this on, but our budget is way too tight. I figure the 133 mhz bus on the PIII will likely do fine for now - hopefully. Hmm...lots of folks are getting rid of their Alpha's cuz they won't run Win2K...hmm... /me strokes beard.
Well, our main goal for the samba box will be network storage, network printing, and possibly tie it all in with a web front-end. We may actually be hooking in database information, but all of that will be processed on a much bigger box. We'll have about 1500 users, with maybe 150 connected at any one time. The system will likely have a gigabit uplink to the main switch, or at least a 100-base. The rest of our network is fast and reliable, so we're not concerned about the connectivity. As we'll not be using the system for a lot of processing power, I guess the second CPU might be money spent unwisely, unless you think differently based on the information I just added. The VA Linux box will/does have the option of adding a second CPU at another time, so if need be, we can toss that in and recompile.
It frankly scares me to think that our children might be bombarded by more advertising than they already receive through numerous outlets - many of which they (or parents) cannot control. True, the benefits of receiving equipment (TVs, VCRs, etc) seem -wonderful- to a cash-strapped public school, but the consequences of signing agreements to bring ad-sponsored equipment is something I'd rather avoid. For the advertisers, it's a gold mine. Can you imagine the revenue that they can generate by -guaranteeing- that your advertisement will be impressed on the school age market EACH day? I can only guess that the ad revenues exceed what is spent on the delivery medium. Even the networks and their afternoon cartoon lineups of Pokemon and such can't guarantee that kids will see advertisments. Consider also the parents that would rather not have their children bombarded by advertisements...many schools don't even garner parent/PTA input before signing these contracts.
-From Adbusters: Channel One Advertisement:"...Channel One is a 12-minute news program broadcast daily to over 7.8 million students in 12,000 US schools. Channel One describes itself as a "free" service, while selling four, 30-second spots per show at $200,000 each, to companies such as Nike, Nintendo, Pepsi and Burger King." I highly suggest interested folks visit Adbusters and read the sections on advertising in schools... /rant -Ryan-
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At the college I work for, we used our existing steam pipes to hold the fiber connecting buildings on campus...absolutely perfect conduit, and didn't require trenching (much) on our historic property. Plus, a bomb could level the school, and we'd still have network (although if no one is here to use it, is it really a network?)
It was released earlier today for the 5000x series. Earlier Latitude and Inspirons had problems a few months ago.
Well, we're not "Intel Whores" (hehe)...but we like the options that VA Linux gives in rackmount systems. If there are other vendors out there that can provide an AMD solution that is rackmount, and can certify that their RAID solutions will run with Linux, I'd love to find out.
We'll likely have a RAID5 array of LVD disks, and we're expecting to have about 150 connections at any one time, but Xeon is definitely not a price option.
I would love to see us move towards an Athlon platform. I've been using AMD for quite some time on my home systems, and I feel quite confident in their CPUs.
I'd love to get something better than an Intel box to run this on, but our budget is way too tight. I figure the 133 mhz bus on the PIII will likely do fine for now - hopefully.
/me strokes beard.
Hmm...lots of folks are getting rid of their Alpha's cuz they won't run Win2K...hmm...
Well, our main goal for the samba box will be network storage, network printing, and possibly tie it all in with a web front-end. We may actually be hooking in database information, but all of that will be processed on a much bigger box.
We'll have about 1500 users, with maybe 150 connected at any one time. The system will likely have a gigabit uplink to the main switch, or at least a 100-base. The rest of our network is fast and reliable, so we're not concerned about the connectivity.
As we'll not be using the system for a lot of processing power, I guess the second CPU might be money spent unwisely, unless you think differently based on the information I just added. The VA Linux box will/does have the option of adding a second CPU at another time, so if need be, we can toss that in and recompile.
True, the benefits of receiving equipment (TVs, VCRs, etc) seem -wonderful- to a cash-strapped public school, but the consequences of signing agreements to bring ad-sponsored equipment is something I'd rather avoid.
For the advertisers, it's a gold mine. Can you imagine the revenue that they can generate by -guaranteeing- that your advertisement will be impressed on the school age market EACH day? I can only guess that the ad revenues exceed what is spent on the delivery medium. Even the networks and their afternoon cartoon lineups of Pokemon and such can't guarantee that kids will see advertisments.
Consider also the parents that would rather not have their children bombarded by advertisements...many schools don't even garner parent/PTA input before signing these contracts.
-From Adbusters: Channel One Advertisement:"...Channel One is a 12-minute news program broadcast daily to over 7.8 million students in 12,000 US schools. Channel One describes itself as a "free" service, while selling four, 30-second spots per show at $200,000 each, to companies such as Nike, Nintendo, Pepsi and Burger King."
/rant
I highly suggest interested folks visit Adbusters and read the sections on advertising in schools...
-Ryan-