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Hmmm, quite a difference with what i'm planning to build...

1 x AMD 3800+ CPU, 4 x 1TB, 2 x 2 GB RAM, Gigabit LAN, running Linux with VMWare for 3 x guest OS. And all this should stay below 100 W.

Regards,
Robert.

Robert, are you planning on using your 4 drives in raid? or simply 4 separate disks?

I don't think i'm going to use RAID. But i'm not 100% sure yet though...if i would use RAID, it would only be for staying up while disks fail. Not for performance.

RAID is just 1 issue i'm looking at right now, there are more things i'm facing in the challenge to create a system that will get me through the next 5-6 years or so:
(the plan is to combine 3 PC's working 24/7 into 1, increase storage, BTW)

- Linux or Windows as Host OS;
- Will 4 GB RAM be enough;
- How to deal with all USB/Serial connections i need now and in the future;
- How about driver support;
- Xen, VMWare or Virtual Server?

All these decisions to make will influence one another and currently i'm busy testing all kinds of things.
For example, i'm monitoring CPU usage on my Home Automation PC right now (see http://www.hekkers.net/test/dev.aspx), to see if it's really a good idea to make it virtual.

So don't be surprised if in the end it's RAID i'm using...

Robert.

for my (girder based) home control, I use this pc :

http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=27

It's 'low cost', low power, fanless and I have xp pro running from a 2Gb flash memory card, so no hard disk...

I used XPLITE to reduce xp's disk space
http://www.litepc.com/

I don't need (PCI) slots, because I connect all my devices via RS232/USB/ethernet/bluetooth.

Note, that I used the Enhanced Write Filter (EWF) , to make the flash drive 'read-only' (So, all disk writes, by the Operating System, are kept in RAM). Otherwise the flash memory would wear out after a while...

For instructions about EWF, see :

http://mason.gmu.edu/~sfiorito/eXPinstall.htm

http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/winnt-b ... tions.html

I found the driver files here :

http://www.computerbase.de/forum/showth ... p?t=171549

I run a script at system shutdown, that commits all EWF disk writes permanently to (flash) disk.
(the pc is on 24/7, so that should not happen very often)

C:\WINDOWS\system32\ewfmgr.exe c: -commitanddisable -live
C:\WINDOWS\system32\ewfmgr.exe c: -enable

I use an ms-access mdb file as database for my various sensor/trend values (5 minute samples for last 3 days, daily summaries(min/max/ave) for last 3 months, monthly summaries (min/max/ave)) and after a year the file size is still only 1 MB

the pc is not powerful enough for multimedia applications.

I don't need a big hard disk, because I use a synology DS107 NAS for music/movies etc. (the hard disk automatically spins down when not in use (i.e. at night))

I haven't got a monitor/keyboard/mouse connected. I use remote desktop.

I don't run multimedia applications on this pc (e.g. j river media center,zoomplayer etc. also controlled by girder/netremote) I run those on another passively cooled core 2 duo pc in my living room that's not powered on 24/7 :

the HUSH E5 from http://hushpc.co.uk/

I don't have any on-line backup...

I occasionally back up the girder configuration and mdb files (from the flash memory) to other pc's and occasionally back up the music/movies from the synology NAS to a USB hard disk

Marcel

If your going to use vmware, with multiple os'ses.. i would take 8gb.. although i have stinky vista.. when i start up a vmware session i'am at 80% of memory (with 4gb ram in total in my machine) but thats just vista i think.

// Erik (binkey.nl)

Yep... and 8 GB would mean Linux as host. Or Windows Enterprise, and i don't have that...[:D]

Currently i'm evaluating Suse 10.1 with VMWare; tonight i'm going to scale up memory to 4 GB, install a few VMs and see what happens...

Using Linux, 4Gb should be more than adequate for VM.
When I meant RAID I was talking about reliabilty, not the performance. For a 24/7 that is running our home, I'd like to have as little downtime as possible.

Marcel: thanks for posting that info regarding EWF, if I ever decide to install XP on an Eee PC, I'll be using that.
I looked into it a while back, when considering XP embedded, but the more info the better.