Help with always-on dialup server at home

Help with always-on dialup server at home

Post by Who Know » Fri, 31 Jan 2003 16:30:57



Hello all,

Currently I have setup a dialup (PPPd) server on my
home desktop. It works great. I can dialup
using my PDA and wireless-phone. This desktop is
connected to my cable modem and does NAT for the
PPP packets coming from the PDA. So I am my own ISP.

Only issue I have: for this to work I have to keep
my big fat desktop PC on all the time. Just rough
calculations show the electricity charges itself
per month are more than what I would pay to an ISP.

Is there an alternative (or can I build one?)?. I just
need some linux running on which I can configure
PPPd and it should have RJ-11 (phone) and RJ-45
(ethernet) jacks.

Any ideas?

TIA
-ajay

 
 
 

Help with always-on dialup server at home

Post by Lewin A.R.W. Edwar » Sat, 01 Feb 2003 02:38:11


Quote:> Only issue I have: for this to work I have to keep
> my big fat desktop PC on all the time. Just rough
> calculations show the electricity charges itself
> per month are more than what I would pay to an ISP.

Can't possibly be this expensive, unless you have several kilowatts of
power supply in your PC, or your electricity comes from Norwegian
hamster farms that charge $50 per kWh.

Quote:> Is there an alternative (or can I build one?)?. I just

I'd suggest the easiest alternative is a laptop. Typically the laptop
will be 20W (or less, 20W is maximum) vs 200-250W rated power supply
in a desktop. You can turn off the screen and maybe load everything
into RAM disk and turn off the hard drive.

 
 
 

Help with always-on dialup server at home

Post by Edward Lee e » Sat, 01 Feb 2003 06:44:14


...

Quote:> Only issue I have: for this to work I have to keep
> my big fat desktop PC on all the time. Just rough
> calculations show the electricity charges itself
> per month are more than what I would pay to an ISP.

Ways to save on electricity:

1. Yank your hard disk, compact flash uses much less energy.

2. Use the slowest CPU possible, a 486 uses less than a quarter
   of energy than a 1G Celeron.  A 486DX/66 should be sufficient
   for PPP router.

3. Yank your graphic card if possible, graphic chip is second
   only to the CPU for power consumptions.

4. Power it down overnight, unless you surf under moon-light a lot.

Quote:

> Is there an alternative (or can I build one?)?. I just
> need some linux running on which I can configure
> PPPd and it should have RJ-11 (phone) and RJ-45
> (ethernet) jacks.

> Any ideas?

> TIA
> -ajay

 
 
 

Help with always-on dialup server at home

Post by Hamis » Sun, 02 Feb 2003 03:37:25


Hmmm, might want to be careful replacing the harddisk with
compact flash directly without regarding its finite lifetime
(100000 - 1000000 writes?), also, maybe even slower still,
a 386SX should handle ppp (56kBPS)...




> ...
> > Only issue I have: for this to work I have to keep
> > my big fat desktop PC on all the time. Just rough
> > calculations show the electricity charges itself
> > per month are more than what I would pay to an ISP.

> Ways to save on electricity:

> 1. Yank your hard disk, compact flash uses much less energy.

> 2. Use the slowest CPU possible, a 486 uses less than a quarter
>    of energy than a 1G Celeron.  A 486DX/66 should be sufficient
>    for PPP router.

> 3. Yank your graphic card if possible, graphic chip is second
>    only to the CPU for power consumptions.

> 4. Power it down overnight, unless you surf under moon-light a lot.

> > Is there an alternative (or can I build one?)?. I just
> > need some linux running on which I can configure
> > PPPd and it should have RJ-11 (phone) and RJ-45
> > (ethernet) jacks.

> > Any ideas?

> > TIA
> > -ajay

 
 
 

Help with always-on dialup server at home

Post by Edward Lee e » Sun, 02 Feb 2003 10:39:34



> Hmmm, might want to be careful replacing the harddisk with
> compact flash directly without regarding its finite lifetime
> (100000 - 1000000 writes?), also, maybe even slower still,
> a 386SX should handle ppp (56kBPS)...

I have one small CF (16M) burning for several months now, just
trying to see how long it last.  For real use, I mount them read-only
and ftp data and log to another server.

A small CF (<32M) costs less than $20 and draws less than 1W.

Assuming that:
1. A hard drive draw about 15W.
2. The power supply draw another 15W to supply the hard drive.
3. Electricity costs 20 cents per KWHr.
4. Hard drive is free.

A hard drive costs about 30W/hr or 720W/day or 21.6 KWHr/month or $4.32/month.

A CF will break even in about 5 months.




> > ...
> > > Only issue I have: for this to work I have to keep
> > > my big fat desktop PC on all the time. Just rough
> > > calculations show the electricity charges itself
> > > per month are more than what I would pay to an ISP.

> > Ways to save on electricity:

> > 1. Yank your hard disk, compact flash uses much less energy.

> > 2. Use the slowest CPU possible, a 486 uses less than a quarter
> >    of energy than a 1G Celeron.  A 486DX/66 should be sufficient
> >    for PPP router.

> > 3. Yank your graphic card if possible, graphic chip is second
> >    only to the CPU for power consumptions.

> > 4. Power it down overnight, unless you surf under moon-light a lot.

> > > Is there an alternative (or can I build one?)?. I just
> > > need some linux running on which I can configure
> > > PPPd and it should have RJ-11 (phone) and RJ-45
> > > (ethernet) jacks.

> > > Any ideas?

> > > TIA
> > > -ajay

 
 
 

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