> 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