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>From: "Jennie L. Moody" <address@hidden>
>Organization: UVa
>Keywords: 200002241852.LAA18236 platforms McIDAS

Jennie,

>I have been looking into improving my work productivity
>from home.  Specifically, I would like to get set-up to
>run McIDAS from home.

I do this daily on a PC which I basically put together from parts.
More on the parts thing later.

>I believe the best way to do this
>is to get a new PC for home, and set it up in a dual-boot
>configuration (Windows 98,II; some version of Linux).

This is essentially what I did except that I put together a machine
from spare and some new parts.  In the process of doing this, I had the
occasion to really check out costs for PC platforms that would run
Unidata applications.  I figured that I could put together a very
capable machine for about $425, but prices have changed a little since
then:

FIC VA503+ motherboard                                   $ 70
AMD K6-2 400 Mhz                                         $ 45
128 MB RAM                                               $126
8 MB ATI Expert at Play 98 w/TV out (PCI)                $ 40
10 GB HD                                                 $100
40x CDROM                                                $ 30
Mid tower case with 250 W power supply                   $ 30
1.44 MB floppy                                           $ 10
PS/2 mouse                                               $ 10
101 key keyboard                                         $ 15
56 Kb non-windows modem (non Winmodem is important!!)    $ 30
RedHat 6.1 Linux                                         $ 30
                                                         ----
                                                         $536

This is basically the machine I run at home (actually, a little
better), and it is pretty darn fast.  E-machines sells machines like
this for about the same price, so you don't have to do the assembly
yourself (CU buys E-machine machines almost exclusively since they are
so cheap).

>If I do this, then Gary can still use windows applications
>(and the boys), and I can install McIDAS under Linux.

Right.  I can boot into either Windows NT, Sun Solaris x86, RedHat 6.1
Linux, or DOS.  For the past several months, I find that I really only
boot into Linux.

>I would be connected to the internet via a network card
>in the computer, and a DSL connection to the house.

Very cool.  Ben Domenico and Mike Wright have signed up for DSL
connections through US West.  Mike and I were discussing throughput in
Linux, and the numbers he gave me made me drool (DSL as compared to a
56 Kb modem connection).

>The
>DSL connections are always "on", (kinda like have a machine
>on a local ethernet at work, right?), so there is no modem
>connection out,

Right.  This is one of the nice benefits.  You can work on your machine
and talk on your phone at the same time.

>although part of the local DSL deal with
>Sprint is that you take Earthlink as your ISP (not sure
>I fully understand if an ISP is necessary, or if its a
>the way Sprint makes it work here locally?).

Cathy has an Earthlink account that I can use from Longmont (at the
same time she is using it from Sugarloaf, no less).  I have found
Earthlink to be very good.  Russ Rew just recently switched from US
West to Earthlink as his ISP.  Also, just recently Earthlink merged
with Mindspring.  By the way, Earthlink _is_ Sprint.  Finally, yes you
do need an ISP.

>Anyway,
>I am trying to figure out what kind of specs I would need
>on a home machine to make this work well.

You can get a super system for on the order of $1000.

>If McIDAS is
>running locally, I would need to have the minimum requirements
>as stated on the McIDAS page, right?

Yes, I recommend a machine with 128 MB of RAM.  If one was willing to
spend the money, I would say that upgrading to 256 MB would be better
especially if one wanted to run the Unidata Metapps Java routines.

>But, since this is
>a dual-boot system, and will have other things loaded
>on another partition of the hard disk, I don't know how
>much over the mimimum specs would be recommended.

The only concern about having a multi-boot system is the disk space
that you would want/need.  I would say that a 10 GB HD would be more
than adequate depending on what the Windows 98 users are trying to do
(if you get into digital cameras and the like, disk space can evaporate
rapidly).  As far as the Linux partitions go, I have my machine setup
so that Linux occupies about 2 GB of disk.  Half of this (actually a
little more) is free so that I can download datasets and do development
at home).  If I were to redo my machine, I would replace the Solaris
x86 partition with FreeBSD.  I would then allocate about 3 GB for each
OS (NT, FreeBSD, and Linux).  Given that disks are so cheap, I would be
comforted by the possibility of adding another 10 GB for just under
$100.

>The
>machines I have been looking at have different graphics
>cards with different amounts of display cache (I guess thats
>what the memory is for: 4MB versus 8MB for example).  

I would go for at least 8 MB of video ram (not shared video memory, by
the way) since this would allow me to run in 24-bit graphics mode.
Once you run in 24-bit mode, you _never_ want to go back to 8-bit.  It
is very useful to be running McIDAS with lots of image levels AND
NetScape at the same time without worrying about running out of
colors.

>I know at work that memory is a key item, but then those
>machines are servers, multitasking, and since here tat home
>other things wouldn't be running at the same time as McIDAS
>is memory still really critical to performance (eg: 64MB is
>the minimum requirement, but upgrades to 128MB are ~$130).

Memory is cheap.  Last night I checked pricewatch.com and see that you
can get 64 MB PC 100 memory for $63.  This puts the cost of 128 MB or
RAM at $126.

>An example of the system I am looking at is at:
>http://www.cavcomp.virginia.edu/ccb/eseries.html
>these are Gateway configurations.

I was not very impressed with these systems.  I think that they are
overpriced for what you get.  Do you have a CompUSA in
Charlottesville?  If so, start checking the Sunday adds to get an idea
of how much machine you can get for $1300.  My preference, by the way,
is to NOT get a system with a monitor included UNLESS you upgrade the
monitor.  I would not get a .28 dot pitch monitor under any
circumstances.  I bought a Sony CPD 220 GS 17" monitor for my use.
This monitor has a dot pitch of .25 and is spectacularly clear.  This
is important if you really intend to work on the machine for extended
periods of time.  A fuzzy monitor will cause bad eye strain after a
fairly short amount of time (like 2 hours).  I have worked on my system
for over 8 hours and had any problems with my vision.  Right now, I am
thinking of upgrading to a 19" Sony CPD 420 GS monitor.  The extra size
would allow me to make the fonts I use larger.  This would cut down on
eye strain even further.  My hardline advice on a system is "don't
skimp on the monitor".

>Since I am going to
>have to purchase this out of my own pocket (no grant
>money for new machines right now, and the University doesn't
>allow us to take work machines home anyway, with the 
>exception of laptops).  Anyway, I was thinking that the
>Gateway E-1400 500C (for $1239, or $1369 with 128MB Ram)
>might be a good deal.

I would look at a different system.  I think that for $1400 you
can get much more of a machine than this.

>There are also some Dell machines that the University Bookstore
>offers to faculty for a educational discount.  As far as I can
>tell, these are a little cheaper than machines direct from
>Gateway or Dell, and they come "set-up", and with a 3-Year
>Warranty.

The warranty is nice, but not absolutely essential.  I would consider
spending the money that an extended warranty would cost in a UPS
system.  These will filter your power and allow you to shutdown
gracefully during a power outage.

>However, they do not come set-up with a dual-boot
>option, so I either need to do that myself (or with the help
>of a Systems person in our Department).  

This is not hard.  I recommend that you purchase System Commander for
use as a boot manager.  This is a very nice program to say the least.
I further recommend that you purchase Partition Manager and use it to
repartition the disk space.  This would allow you to buy a machine with
Windows 98 already setup and easily repartition the disk to add Linux.

>One thing I am not sure of is if all network cards are the
>same, I read a few things on the Gateway website and they
>all say they support (have device drivers for) MS Windows 98,
>Novell 3.11 or 3.12 and 4x client server.  I don't know if that
>covers Linux??

Information about Windows support means nothing when it comes to
Linux.  In order to make a wise decision, one has to spend a little
time looking through the RedHat web site to see which network cards
(and processors, and video cards) are supported "right out of the
box".  I have learned that buying hardware that is over a year old is a
good idea when it comes to Linux.  It is most likely that the "older"
hardware has been added to the list of supported hardware.

>Do network cards automatically come able to 
>communicate with different operating systems, or is this
>something to worry about?

Most network cards are supported by Windows and Linux.  I would say
that the newest "cutting edge" cards of any kind that are supported by
Windows may not _yet_ be supported by Linux, but the support is
probably not far behind.

>I am sorry to bug you with all these questions, but, its 
>inherently McIDAS related.

No problem.  We routinely provide information on platforms to sites.
You can peruse previous emails that I have had on the subject by
looking through the Support platforms archives:

Unidata HomePage
http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/
  Search our Server
  http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/glimpsedocs/glimpse.html
    platforms support e-mail archive
    http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/glimpsedocs/ghplatforms.html

>I really need to be able to
>run McIDAS from here, and access archived datasets from
>home.

McIDAS will run great on a reasonable PC with a DSL connection to the
net.  It runs well for me with a 56 Kb connection, so a DSL one would
have to be 4 times better :-)

>Tony has set up a nice ADDE-server for the TOPSE
>data we are archiving and I would like to do analyses from
>here and not go in to my office.

Piece of cake.

>Will I be dissapointed by
>the performance?

Only if you are an internet junkie.  One always wants more speed, but a
DSL connection should be quite satisfactory.

>Oh, I guess one other option that I need to
>select is what speed I want my DSL connection to be (or what
>bandwidth).  They specify a download and upload speed, the
>cheapest is 128/56kbs (will run me ~$90 per month,

This seems awful expensive.  I think that Mike W. is getting 256/128
service for $60 per month.

>but really
>only represents a net increase of ~$60 per month, since I
>will drop my current ISP ($20) and will get $10/month of
>free long-distance (some Spring Promo)....a significant added
>benefit is that using the DSL will not tie up the phone line
>to the house (a major hassle at the moment).

If you end working a lot from home, the expenditure is well worth it.

>Anyway, thanks again.  Any of your thoughts on this are most
>welcome.  But, as I have noted, being able to run McIDAS is the
>primary (or one of the primary) goals.  I guess we were in need of an
>upgraded system anyway, I have an old monitor (from two systems
>ago, not great resolution) and a relatively slow machine (100MHz
>Pentium) running right now at home.

Again, I think that with some careful shopping you should be able to
get a quite capable machine for about $1000.

Tom