Running 2 old pc's 24/7 bad?

[MagnumIP]

I already have an old 500mhz desktop running 24/7 as my file server and asterisk server. I want to use an old 650mhz laptop as a workstation running 24/7 as well. I am going to hook up a LCD monitor to the laptop to use instead of the laptop screen. Will it suck up a lot of electricity if I run 2 pc's 24/7? I know that the max wattage for the laptop coming out of the wall charger is 70w. Not sure how big the PSU is on the old desktop but I can't imagine it being more that 200w.

[greggh]

The amount of watts that desktops draw can vary wildly. If you're going to use it 24/7 you might want to invest $20 in this handy dandy gadget to check out just how much of a power hog it will be...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6882715001

[MagnumIP]

I keep forgetting to buy that thing. Now I have to figure out how to get the laptop not to heat up real bad when I close the lid of it. Otherwise I am going to have to remove the screen

[davijordan]

The kill a watt is on sale right now for 15.?? dollars. I am ordering it now.

[mowestusa]

I already have an old 500mhz desktop running 24/7 as my file server and asterisk server. I want to use an old 650mhz laptop as a workstation running 24/7 as well. I am going to hook up a LCD monitor to the laptop to use instead of the laptop screen. Will it suck up a lot of electricity if I run 2 pc's 24/7? I know that the max wattage for the laptop coming out of the wall charger is 70w. Not sure how big the PSU is on the old desktop but I can't imagine it being more that 200w.

I would love to hear some more about your set up. Do you have a blog post about the 500mhz file server / asterisk server? Like what distro you used, what you had to do to configure it, and those types of things?

Also interesting to use the 650mhz laptop as a workstation with separate LCD monitor. The LCD monitor should be easier on the power than an old CRT, of course couldn't you just shut off the LCD when not using the workstation. Also curious, why you are wanting to run a workstation 24/7 is it doing Folding@Home or Torrents or downloading podcasts every night? Usually, a workstation only needs to be one when you are using it. Also if it is your main workstation, what distro have you found that works well on that light weight hardware for everyday use?

Sound like you have some really neat ideas on how to reuse old computers, a real interest of mine. If you have any blog posts I'd love a link, or if you could go into more detail in this thread that would be cool too.

[MagnumIP]

With the file server/Asterisk server, I have the SVN version of Asterisk 1.4 running on Slackware 12. I have a 500GB external SATA drive connected to a SATA card in the desktop as my storage. I have it so you have to use ssh to log in to the desktop to get anything on it. I am not sure on how to stream media files from the desktop to any of my pc's on the network. So I just grab what I need off of it.

With the laptop, I kinda want to use it as my Asterisk server and nothing else instead of what I have now. I'd rather have the faster, low power consumption pc to run Asterisk 24/7. I am thinking of just adding a external USB HD to the laptop so I can grab files off of it when I am away from home. Not sure if I want to go that route or use it as my workstation.

I have an old pentium 133mhz desktop that I might install Smoothwall on just to play around with it. Not sure what else I can do with something that old.

[davijordan]

I use firefly (itunes compatable) to stream public domain music and lectures off my debian based nslu2 file server. I was planning to have a neoware x86 based thin client I plan to convert to an asterisk based box. That slackware idea sounds like a great plan for it. Thanx for the hint.