what to do with 20 old computers?

[TheoPetro]

any links to sites that deal w/ alot of comps. (20 is alot to me) like where would i findout stuff to use them for

 

[imported_goku]

Specs would be really useful at this point. PIIIs and Pentiums are both considered old but are significantly different when it comes to performance. If it's a 486, eh the best you really could do is build a firewall...

 

[imported_goku]

Originally posted by: Gatecrusher
hmmm, I'd hook em up on a lan than use them to render my stuff form 3Ds Max, and Lightwave.. cool thats what you can do man.
the combined CPU power might amount to something, there are programs out there that can use network machines combined cpu power for calculations. (Brice,3ds max.. so on)

Would you happen to know how to use distributed computing to render things for stuff like Premiere or 3Ds max? That would be really useful for me to know as I have quite a few machines I'd like to do a task like that.

 

[TheoPetro]

Originally posted by: goku
Specs would be really useful at this point. PIIIs and Pentiums are both considered old but are significantly different when it comes to performance. If it's a 486, eh the best you really could do is build a firewall...

i wont have specs on it untill monday night at the soonest most likely friday afternoon because of exams

 

[ShadowBlade]

Make a cluster and connect them to whatever youre using now.

 

[TheoPetro]

where do i findout how to do that? and what would that do? im seriously the biggest noob at lan stuff. its a chore to keep 3 family comps connected to the internet at the same time. (that one isnt only because i dont know alot about this stuff rather its that my brother and mother have a nack for breaking computers)

 

[eXx08]

Start a Web-site and game server rental if you have high speed internet T1 or something.

 

[TheoPetro]

hehe highspeed. ya i wish. ive got a 3Mb connection right now and my top dl speed is 150-200kbps

 

[Slicedbread]

The best thing to do would be to donate them, you obviously dont need them. Maybe help a young kid out you know.

 

[Fox5]

Sell them as web servers.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

I could use a little computer to run 24/7.

 

[Mrpilot007]

If you are a noob, then now is your time to learn all sorts of good stuff. You will become a network engineer just by learning what to do with them. Trial and error. Btw, you could run something like Sandra to figure out what you have, assuming you have a way to boot one up and install it.

 

[pkme2]

A Beowulf cluster:
http://www.beowulf.org/overview/

You can build linux computers and sell them for $100. The operating systems are free and you can download them off the Internet. You can buy Ubuntu for $2.99
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi...e=MERC_VIC_ReBay_Pr4_PcY_BIN_Stores_IT

Or, you can build a computer case farm.

 

[TheoPetro]

what kind of software can take advantage of a cluster?

 

[johnnqq]

i'd like one if we can arrage something

 

[Gatecrusher]

Originally posted by: goku

Originally posted by: Gatecrusher
hmmm, I'd hook em up on a lan than use them to render my stuff form 3Ds Max, and Lightwave.. cool thats what you can do man.
the combined CPU power might amount to something, there are programs out there that can use network machines combined cpu power for calculations. (Brice,3ds max.. so on)

Would you happen to know how to use distributed computing to render things for stuff like Premiere or 3Ds max? That would be really useful for me to know as I have quite a few machines I'd like to do a task like that.

there is a software that comes with 3ds max specificaly for this, you need to install it on all the machines, set it up, activate it and than from the "main" machine that has the whole version of the softaware(like 3dsmax5) you select network rendering.

I'v realy just done it with Brice 5, and that comes with "brice Lighting" a little program that u install on the rendering machines(dont haveto install whole program just teh plugin for net render.) than from the central machine you find all the machines on the net that have teh pluin instaled and you can task them to split up the work...
3ds max has a simular setup.. but I neva realy tesetd it for real..