[TriLUG] Dogpile Massively Parallel Supercomputer and lots of Mac hardware

[Nathan Conrad]

On Sun, 16 Dec 2001, Christian J Hedemark wrote:

> Mike said:
> > Quadra's are cool.
> 
> Yeah we got a few of those.  Some 650 models and some 660AV models.
> 
> > For the PowerMacs, look for systems that at least
> > have PCI.  Linux won't play real well (MkLinux is, well, being forgotten)
> > with the NuBus PowerMacs.
> >
> > You can tell the NuBus from the PCI systems based on their model
> > number:
> > x100 <- NuBus
> > x2x0 <- PCI
> > x5x0 <- PCI
> 
> We got a good mix of these, both PCI and non PCI.   5400/180, 5200/75LC,
> 7100/80 (multiples of some models).
> 
> > OSX won't run on anything less that a G3.  You can get a hack that will
> > let you install on a system that's been upgraded to a G3 processor.
> 
> *grumble* no thanks.
> 
> We also found LCIII and LC475.  There are more Macs there that we haven't
> picked up yet (they had to close for the night so we couldn't get another
> load in).

And one can also think about stripping them for parts. The LC-III and 475s 
are pretty much trash (they have about a 40 or 60 MB hard drive and 25 MHz
processor). All of these computers would have a SCSI hard drive. The
Quadras and PowerMacs about a gig or so per drive. One could consolidate a
few computers into one with a few hard drives, three times the RAM, etc...
The 7200s have 8 DIMM slots, if I am not mistaken.

Linux should run well on any of the PCI-based computers. As was mentioned,
mkLinux will run on the older computers (if they have a FPU). The LC475
has a 680LC40 processor, which does not have a FPU. (Or at least this is
what I read when I wanted to put it on my 475). The LC models were the
'low cost' models, while the Quadras and Preformas were the upper end
models.

One other idea is to donate some of the older ones to a school to use as 
x-windows servers?


-Nathan Conrad