Any down sides to using a laptop as a linux server?

[Jugernot]

I've got an older Toshiba laptop that is too slow to do much of anything useful in the real world, so I've installed Redhat 8 on it and am using it as a replacement for my linux server (Seagate Hard drive went bad.. getting it RMAed).

After thinking about it, I think I'm just gonna keep the laptop as my server. It's got plenty of space for my needs (4 gigs) as it only hosts some small websites, a few small MySQL dbases, and acts as a sendmail server. A distinct advantage is that I won't need to put it on my UPS as the laptop battery can keep it running for 3 hours without power, it's quiet, it's small, and it's plenty fast.

Any down sides?

 

[RockyMaivia]

I can't think of any. As long as it serves your purpose, go for it.

 

[Shalmanese]

the battery will die a horrible death after about a year so, when you try and use it again, it will have about 10 mins battery life.

 

[SearchMaster]

Any down sides?

Got one. If you keep the battery plugged in while on AC power, you'll kill your battery. I just did it to my Thinkpad 600E . It will take several months to a year, but it will happen.

 

[prosaic]

Most notebook batteries die in about a year's time regardless of how they're treated. I've owned a lot of these systems, I've supported a lot of them, and it just doesn't matter a whole heck of a lot with Lithium Ion technology -- especially if the recharger technology is decent. They last about a year if you're religious about the way you treat them, and they last about a year if you never give them a thought. Some of the older technologies like Nickel-Cadmium are a different story. They might last a lot longer than a year, but they're also much more sensitive to improper handling with respect to discharge-recharge cycles and overcharging.

- prosaic

 

[oldfart]

I use an old Thinkpad 760 as a Linux server. P166 64 Meg ram and a 6.4 Gig HD. Not using it for all that much.. Samba file share and FTP server mostly. It works fine. Nice small footprint.

 

[Soulkeeper]

i left my laptop on running linux with apache, ftp, telnet, and seti for 90 days
as long as the laptop has good cooling it's just as good as a desktop
the thing that finally killed my uptime was the power cord broke and i couldn't resolder and fix it before the batter ran dead, cause i was asleep

just make sure dust doesn't get clogged in the cooling system

btw my system was a sager 1.8ghz P4 system with 256mb pc2100 and a 4200rpm 40gb hard drive with radeon 7500 graphics

laptops make great servers cause of their low profile hehehe just the hard drives are slow

 

[Jugernot]

Originally posted by: Shalmanese
the battery will die a horrible death after about a year so, when you try and use it again, it will have about 10 mins battery life.

Actually I'm not sure about that... this is a lithium ion battery in a 3.5 years old Toshiba laptop... I've NEVER actually used the thing for longer than 15 minutes at a time. I won it in a contest at my graduation party... Last time I tried it out it worked fine for over 2 hours. That is having it pluggin in for days if not weeks at a time and unplugged for weeks/months at a time.

Jugs

 

[LeeTJ]

Originally posted by: Jugernot

Originally posted by: Shalmanese
the battery will die a horrible death after about a year so, when you try and use it again, it will have about 10 mins battery life.

Actually I'm not sure about that... this is a lithium ion battery in a 3.5 years old Toshiba laptop... I've NEVER actually used the thing for longer than 15 minutes at a time. I won it in a contest at my graduation party... Last time I tried it out it worked fine for over 2 hours. That is having it pluggin in for days if not weeks at a time and unplugged for weeks/months at a time.

Jugs

that's unusual. LiIon's die a lot quicker than NiCads. No matter tho.

if your gonna use the Laptop as a Server, why not just keep it plugged into a UPS w/o the battery in there??

 

[bcterps]

Hmm, I've had my Toshiba Satellite Pro for about 2 years now and I've had no battery problems so far. For the most part, I leave this plugged in to AC power almost all of the time. What is the best way to ensure that your battery lasts a long time?

 

[DT4K]

Only downside I see is it's probably got a really slow harddrive, but for what you are hosting, it should be fine.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Should be fine, I use a 433mhz celeron with a 5 gig hard drive and 192mb ram on Windows 2000 Pro running the usually server stuff like apache, ftp, etc. On linux it should be great, just make sure the fans don't get too dusty otherwise they'll lose speed and evetually slow down and increase heat.

 

[vegetation]

Agreed, pick up a cheap 350VA UPS unit. Besides, if you have a hub/switch, plus cable modem, you'll need them to be powered in the event of an outage, else your server will be useless.

 

[Shalmanese]

The best thing for an unused battery is to be fully discharged and stored in a cool dry place.