Technically minded Weblog

I’m planning to get a USB NAS adapter with some additional features.
It has a built in Print Server, Samba server, FTP server, DHCP server and a BitTorrent client. That’s impressive, for a credit-card sized device ! The price is really good too.

I will probably use this device to host my files on the net via FTP server. This will enable me to save power, as I won’t have to use my secondary PC for file hosting. Now I have to keep the secondary PC on all the time for my files to be available online. That uses a lot of power and increases my electric bill.
This device would also enable me to get rid of my 3rd system (Athlon 2600 based PC with 1 GB RAM and Radeon 9550 Video) and replace it with my current secondary system (Athlon II 240, 2GB RAM, HD4670).

It’s still only a plan though.

P.S.: The NAS device is Addonics NAS2XU2.

P.S. 2: WP 3.0 came out. I will need to update my WP installation someday.

Got 2 more free systems a few days ago.
Both are S478 (P4) systems.

System1:
An early P4 system.
It looks like this PC was a victim of some really noobish PC tech.
There was an (unsecured) AMD (!) heatsink which fell off the CPU (perhaps the tech used thermal paste as glue ?).
There were two hard disks. One 30GB Maxtor and a 20 GB Seagate.
Maxtor drive was working but damaged (bad sectors, maybe the drive was dropped ?). 20GB Seagate was OK.
There were 2 optical drives, both secured only with 2 screws (same story with Seagate HDD). One CD-RW and one DVD-RW. Both drives are Lite-On
Now, for the specs:
MB: Some unknown, Intel Chipset, no LAN (but PC has a PCI NIC installed)
CPU: P4 1.4Ghz
RAM: There was no ram installed (MB uses DDR RAM)
HDD: 20GB Seagate Barracuda ATA IV, Maxtor 30GB (with bad sectors)
VGA: Some Geforce 2 card
PSU: Codegen 350W (has PPFC. Looks usable to me. Modded with 3.3V 5V plug)
Case: Minitower, incomplete (missing side cover).

System2:
Very nicely built P4-era system (except for the PSU).
The spcecs:
MB: Gigabyte GA-8ST800 (SiS 645DX chipset, no LAN, supports P4 HT. Uses Japanese capacitors.)
CPU: Celeron 2.0Ghz
RAM: 256MB DDR-333
HDD: 40GB Samsung (tested, working)
VGA: Some Geforce 4 MX
PSU: 300W Generic/NoName (very light, no PFC. I think I will toss it)
Case: Midi ATX case, Missing side cover.

There’s also a Samsung DVD-RW installed.

Did not have time to test any of these systems yet. Only tested the hard disks.

Got some free hardware today.
A complete and working P4 class PC. The specs are:
Case: some generic, branded “Magnus”
MB: ECS P4VMM2 (S478)
CPU: Celeron 1.7Ghz
RAM: DDR333 256MB
HDD: Samsung 20GB
VGA: Integrated S3 (there’s an AGP slot, but it’s unused).
PSU: Micase 350W (Not +12V based but has a P4 plug. Has PPFC.)
There’s also some optical drive.
I’ve also got a working Samsung CRT monitor, a keyboard and stereo speakers.

I’ve removed the HDD and re-formated it for later use. I’ve also replaced the CPU with P4 Northwood 2.4Ghz which I had laying around in my hardware collection. Tested, everything worked fine (will need to install XP for further testing).
For VGA, I will remove a Radeon 9200 from my ye olde Celeron 600Mhz (Coppermine) based PC.
Now, I’ll need to get some more RAM as XP is a bit too slow with only 256MB.

OK,I need to go to sleep now. Will continue with that PC tomorrow.