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bonkers · Oct 26, 2005, 10:34 PM

Thanks for everyone's feedback in my other thread I'll be a proud owner of a Quad G5 in 6-8 weeks.

Now I'd like to ask the community for some more help.

What should I do with my old dual G4?
I'd rather not sell her, but I need a good use for her otherwise it is a waste.

Please post your ideas

Cheers!

mduell · Oct 26, 2005, 10:42 PM

Make it your network fileserver with 2-4 250GB drives and a SATA controller.

Eriamjh · Oct 27, 2005, 07:01 AM

Sell it and use the money for more ram and HDs (like a RAID) for the G5.

lilrabbit129 · Oct 27, 2005, 11:17 AM

FIleserver/Folding@home box/Spare machine

The Ancient One · Oct 27, 2005, 11:55 AM

Somewhere out there someone could really use Bessy - maybe a kid who would never have a chance to get a computer of his or her own. Check out some charities - the tax deduction could be worth as much as selling the machine.

kw14 · Oct 30, 2005, 12:14 PM

Get an iSight (any usbcam) and use it to watch your house for you. You know those munchkins will screw around with your car again because you forgot to give out candy last year.

bonkers · Nov 1, 2005, 10:47 PM

Hmm. I've been thinking about this a lot. I was going to make it a music & photo server, but I think since my Quad is going to have power to spare, I might just serve from it & sell the G4 (or donate for taxes).

Thoughts? ;-)

Mac Write · Nov 2, 2005, 07:59 PM

Don't use your main workstation as a server. What are the specs on your DPG4? Use it as your file, web, backup server etc.

Lateralus · Nov 2, 2005, 09:23 PM

Originally Posted by Mac Write

What are the specs on your DPG4?

Signature;

Originally Posted by bonkers

Dual G4 533MHz
1.2GB RAM
GeForce3
Mac OS X 10.3

Mister Elf · Nov 2, 2005, 10:49 PM

That's your server, then...it's got plently of power, plus you'll have a backup box if you ever need one.

bonkers · Nov 2, 2005, 10:52 PM

Why not use my main workstation as a server (especially a Quad G5)?

Kristoff · Nov 3, 2005, 12:39 AM

My 5 year old took over my DP 800....I put the 9600 from my DP 2.0 in the quicksilver and he uses it for Call of Duty.

Cadaver · Nov 3, 2005, 12:47 AM

Originally Posted by Kristoff

My 5 year old took over my DP 800....I put the 9600 from my DP 2.0 in the quicksilver and he uses it for Call of Duty.

Your 5 year old plays Call of Duty?!

Kristoff · Nov 3, 2005, 01:06 AM

Yeah....so do his twin brothers...they are 3.

What's wrong with that? It's just a video game.

vinster · Nov 3, 2005, 01:33 AM

Use it as a media center/home-theater computer. You can either hook up to TV via S-Video or VGA/DVI if your set supports it, attach some speakers and use it to play music and DiVX, DVD, etc. video.

Oh, and don't forget to get a Keyspan digital media remote and VNC.

bonkers · Nov 3, 2005, 02:55 AM

Here is what I don't understand...

An older computer can be a wonderful server because serving isn't too processor intensive. Right?
Well then why can't I serve off my new Quad G5 while only suffering a tiny performance hit?

Please explain!!!

OreoCookie · Nov 3, 2005, 03:57 AM

Originally Posted by bonkers

Here is what I don't understand...

An older computer can be a wonderful server because serving isn't too processor intensive. Right?
Well then why can't I serve off my new Quad G5 while only suffering a tiny performance hit?

Please explain!!!

Because it's about having it on a separate machine.

Mac Write · Nov 3, 2005, 04:32 AM

You should have your work station as pure as possible and only install what you need to get work done. The more stuff you run on your workstation the greater the chance of something going wrong. Would you want people to gain access to your confidendial files that are on your workstation because you thought it was fast enough to do it all?

dantewaters · Nov 6, 2005, 03:47 PM

excellent point... I feel the more you load on your workhorse the more cluttered it can become as well, and in turn slow down

Cadaver · Nov 6, 2005, 04:25 PM

While I agree with all the above in theory, I'll tell you that my 3 other machines and my wife's iMac G5 both connect to my G5 (specs in sig) via Apple filesharing to automatically save their Backup 3.01 archives to the G5's external HDs, and I have yet to see a slowdown. My wife's iMac also shares my G5's iTunes library and iPhoto library also without any noticeable performance hit. A 1.4GHz G4 is connected via gigabit ethernet, while the iMac G5 is on the wireless network.

Printer sharing with the above two machines, plus my Athlon XP 3200+ PC (gigabit ethernet) and three (wireless) laptops (rev. c 12" Powerbook, an HP Centrino from work, and my older daughter's iBook G3), is handled via an Airport Extreme basestation. Hurray for Rendezvou... er... Bonjour!

So while I wouldn't recommend serving a 1000+ hit-per-day website off my main machine, the G5 can more than handle some typical household filesharing duties without breaking a sweat.

Cadaver · Nov 6, 2005, 04:27 PM

Curses! These 'NN double posts are starting to tick me off. Maybe time to find a BBS with an actual working server with actual bandwidth.

Hmmm.... maybe MacNN is being served off someone's main desktop machine

OreoCookie · Nov 6, 2005, 04:27 PM

It's more about reliability. A Dual 533 will be plenty as a fileserver, and if you want, you can put the excess cpu power to work with folding@home or SETI. You don't need the latest and greatest version of OS X on it, for instance.

OreoCookie · Nov 6, 2005, 04:45 PM

Originally Posted by Cadaver

So while I wouldn't recommend serving a 1000+ hit-per-day website off my main machine, the G5 can more than handle some typical household filesharing duties without breaking a sweat.

I would guess the limiting factor would be your ADSL connection, though.

MOTHERWELL · Nov 7, 2005, 04:30 PM

I am in the same boat: I am replacing my Dual 1GHz G4 with a Quad.

I would still like my G4 to serve a purpose. How easy is it to turn the old vacuum into a render box (for FCP and Motion) and file server?

And what exactly do I need for this? I think for a file sever I would have to get Fibre Channel cards, as I work with HD footage.

I dont think I would need anything extra to get Qmaster setup, though.

mduell · Nov 7, 2005, 06:21 PM

Originally Posted by MOTHERWELL

I am in the same boat: I am replacing my Dual 1GHz G4 with a Quad.

I would still like my G4 to serve a purpose. How easy is it to turn the old vacuum into a render box (for FCP and Motion) and file server?

And what exactly do I need for this? I think for a file sever I would have to get Fibre Channel cards, as I work with HD footage.

I dont think I would need anything extra to get Qmaster setup, though.

For a render node, I'm not sure. I think Apple makes it very easy with Xgrid/Bonjour.
As a storage server you can fit 2TB (or 1TB mirrored) internally with 4 500GB drives without needing a fiber channel card and an external array. If you need more space there is a $600 5-drive external SATA enclosure which will be much cheaper than a fiber channel card and enclosure and giving you another 2.5TB each (many PCI SATA cards have 4 external ports... so up to 10TB).

new newton · Nov 8, 2005, 11:17 AM

The temptation to say, "make it a fileserver," seems a little overpowering in this thread. Yet I don't get the notion that everyone saying that knows what they mean, or why they're saying it. File servers are great, if you need them. Keeping everyday work on them is just a pain, as a transfer over a home network just isn't the same as working off of the local machine. If you don't have a good reason for creating a file server, then it becomes just an exercise in nerdery.

A media server is a cool idea, too, if you have a need for one. Most people don't.

I think the best suggestion is to give it to a friend who's stuck with a PC, or to sell/trade it for goodies for the new computer.

new newton · Nov 8, 2005, 11:17 AM

The temptation to say, "make it a fileserver," seems a little overpowering in this thread. Yet I don't get the notion that everyone saying that knows what they mean, or why they're saying it. File servers are great, if you need them. Keeping everyday work on them is just a pain, as a transfer over a home network just isn't the same as working off of the local machine. If you don't have a good reason for creating a file server, then it becomes just an exercise in nerdery.

A media server is a cool idea, too, if you have a need for one. Most people don't.

I think the best suggestion is to give it to a friend who's stuck with a PC, or to sell/trade it for goodies for the new computer.

bonkers · Nov 8, 2005, 01:05 PM

Thanks to everyone who has replied so far. I appreciate everyone's input.

I think I'm leaning towards selling my comp & using the new quad as a local music server www.slimdevices.com (just my house). It shouldn't put too much strain on my Quad!!! ;-)

[APi]TheMan · Nov 8, 2005, 01:22 PM

Personally, I'd put NetBSD/macppc on it. Nice and fast operating system that can take care of multiple processors and doesn't have the overhead of Mac OS X.

NetBSD/macppc

merp · Nov 8, 2005, 01:31 PM

max out the disk, drop in a PCI gig-ether NIC, and pick up a gig switch (or connect it directly to the spare interface on the quad). You'd be out a total of $150 for decent kit, and have a hella-fast network fileserver.

In a more general sense, I'd look to offload any non-GUI work to that machine, since the quad will probably end up being your main desktop. I don't even look at my spare machine's console anymore.

merp · Nov 8, 2005, 01:33 PM

duplicate, deleted, pls. ignore...