[LUAU] a new use for hosef donations (used PCs)?

[Jim Thompson]

On Apr 7, 2006, at 9:11 PM, Hawaii Linux Institute wrote:

> Jim Thompson wrote:
>> There has been a lot of recent discussion about "what to do with  
>> PII machines".   Lets build a cluster.  (Where can we find the  
>> room/power/AC?)
> You can do a rough and tumble calculation.  To match a lowest- 
> powered (& cheapest) Sempron you can find in the market, you will  
> need at least 10 PII's clustered together.  Here on the island, we  
> are paying $0.21 per KWHr.  At 150 W per PII, we are talking about  
> 7 bucks a day, or more than $2,500 a year for the utility bill.   
> And this is just one of the (more manageable) problems; the parts  
> cost additional money, and servicing such a monster will be worse  
> than a nightmare.

Dude... they're providing their own power.

> You can find a Sempron/MB combo for around $100.  So, is it worth  
> the effort?  The key issue should be how to design an optimized  
> system, sell the idea, and help getting the fund (a Niagara would  
> be ideal for the Isle).  Of course, fund-raising is much easier  
> said than done, and you won't get the same kind of instant  
> gratification as collecting used PCs would give you.  Wayne

If you're going to go all "MIPS/watt" on us, I'm going to start  
talking about reconfigurable computing.