Pls help, too much old machines... - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: vlad777
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2015, 04:18:07 pm
content: Hi,I have at least four old 32 bit AMD machines. I can't sell them and don't want to bin them.So windows has DCE/RPC , so maybe I can play with it and try to make a grid (cluster of different machines).But it is not that appealing to me.I can also use them to try all various different Linux distros, and practice my bash scripting and terminal skills (which is what I'll probably do).Also these comps have parallel and serial ports, and I did make a few Xilinx JTAG and pic ICSP programmers.They also have USB 2.0 ports. (and LAN)So please throw some more ideas, on how to put them to use/education/experiment ..........

author: SteveLy
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2015, 04:54:34 pm
content: Give them to a charitable/non-profit organisation that specialises in refurbishing old computers for for poorly funded schools, kids in need, low income folks etc. See for example,http://www.computerbank.org.au/- but obviously you, unless you live in Melbourne Australia, you'll need to find one closer to home.

author: vlad777
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2015, 04:56:22 pm
content: Only have 80GB PATA drives.Do you think that Sempron 2400+ with 2GB is sufficient for pfSense or OPNsense?

author: vlad777
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2015, 05:03:47 pm
content: Quote from: SteveLy on October 08, 2015, 04:54:34 pmI wish I had people in my area that are into this.(First hackerspace in my city and idiots want to start with brand new Mac s)

author: vlad777
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2015, 05:07:55 pm
content: Quote from: blueskull on October 08, 2015, 05:02:31 pmI disagree , these cost me zero $ ,and comparing to 1990's these are "supercomputers".

author: vlad777
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2015, 05:13:55 pm
content: MPLAB I think works fine on them but Atmel Studio is slow even on dual core Intel.

author: free_electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2015, 05:52:59 pm
content: connect an LED to pin 2 of the printerport. wire that same signal to pin 11 on the next computer. circle back tot he first one.make a basic programif my_led=off then my_led_onif my_led_on and pin_11_high then my_led_offsee how fast you can get the led to cycle between the machines.try various light patterns.set led's in 5x5 matrix and make game of life.essentially you are building a 1 bit processor. it has 1 input and 1 outputthen expand by connecting 4 outputs to 4 inputs of neighboring computers and make a matrix like that. you now have a 'connection machine'have fun.

author: vlad777
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2015, 07:43:18 pm
content: @free_electronWikipedia say that 'connection machine' was networked in a hypercube.THE ARM GUY in this video says that their machine is networked in a'hexagonal subsurface of a toroid' . (3:05)I don't know if the decision is still out there on what gives mosttraversed edges per second (TEPS)?Edit:It is interesting how both these projects have to do with AI.

author: helius
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2015, 08:19:34 pm
content: A toroid is simply a 2d plane with its edges glued together. It's an unbounded plane of finite dimension. Hexagonal subspace means that each cell is bounded by 6 neighbors. This is less common than 4 neighbors (because rectangular chips naturally tile with 4).The Connection Machine had a hypercube network, but it was much slower than the in-plane 4-neighbor links that it also provided.

author: bitslice
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2015, 08:41:35 pm
content: Quote from: helius on October 08, 2015, 08:19:34 pmSo it is... I never noticed that, thanks

author: vlad777
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2015, 09:05:12 pm
content: If he said "flat torus" (as it is called) ,I might have been able to translate ,like you did...

author: vlad777
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2015, 09:06:49 pm
content: Quote from: bitslice on October 08, 2015, 08:41:35 pmWatch this :

author: vlad777
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2015, 09:23:25 pm
content: Aaaaaaaaahha........ Ummmmmmhhm... (now I'm catching up)So I would be simulating four processors in one real machine and they would have to be connected also?I have to think about this.

author: bitslice
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2015, 09:36:22 pm
content: Quote from: vlad777 on October 08, 2015, 09:06:49 pmAh, so squiggly toroid makes all thedistancesthe same (I hadn't considered that before when looking at toroids).There must be an issue in machines like this (as with Cray 1 circular arrangement) that you have to keep all data connections to a similar finite length (re speed of electrons), so the idea of mapping anhexagonalcomputing array onto a toroid is an interesting approach.Personally I was thinking of a backplane crosspoint switch to do this, but they are using cables - I guess this is an eternal issue with multiprocessor machinesEr, slight derailment of topic here, oops...

author: vlad777
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2015, 09:48:06 pm
content: @bitsliceOff topic here too , but cant you make it circle about a hole and (super)ellipse in other direction?What do you think? Would that work for all distances?

author: vlad777
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2015, 09:52:01 pm
content: @free_electronI think I need two inputs and two outs to make a flat torus. So two 2bit processors per machine.

author: bitslice
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2015, 10:03:38 pm
content: I looked at superellipse toroids, but I reckon the idea goes over my headother than this is (I think) the ideaso you can get a sort of cuboid doughnut instead

author: free_electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2015, 11:18:37 pm
content: Quote from: vlad777 on October 08, 2015, 09:23:25 pmbingo. since a printerport has 4 inputs you can run 4 cpu's on a computer.you could do a 3x3x3 'cube' you only need 27 machines. each run 4 cpus'.might be a fun experiment. ( but a huge waste of power . running all those machines to do what a small fpga can do

author: vlad777
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2015, 12:21:52 am
content: Printerport actually is suppose to have 5 ins (pins 10,11,12,13,15).I don't have 27 machines nor I intend to.So cpus are edges. How did you get to 27*4 because 3x3x3 matrix has 81 edges if it wraps around, by my count.

author: vlad777
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2015, 01:10:38 am
content: Quote from: wilfred on October 09, 2015, 12:51:35 amLatest Firefox still runs on them if you put 1GB of ram. (under XP)This is my logic: pic18f2550 is nothing compare to these machines but everybody uses pics.So there must be ways to use them to educate myself trough tinkering and hacking.And I am open to ideas.

author: EntropyWizard
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2015, 01:38:02 am
content: Installhttp://www.linuxcnc.org/... and build your own CNC machine.

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2015, 01:49:13 am
content: Four machine networked DOS DOOM multiplayer setup, for historical interest?

author: miguelvp
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2015, 01:56:53 am
content: MIPs per Watt would be too costly on those not so old to have historical value systems. Just powering it up, would be a waste of energy. Recycle time for those boxes.

author: vlad777
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2015, 01:58:31 am
content: Quote from: TerraHertz on October 09, 2015, 01:49:13 amSadly I am not into games anymore, but I am sure that counter strike would have 100fps.Edit:I did sell 2GHz Thorton for 2euro to a guy who is building retro machine. Somehow DOSBox isn't good enough for him.When I wanted to try DOOM I got frustrated with new GPU remakes, until I found the original.Nothing inspires more then those big pixels that run fine on 100MHz CPU.

author: vlad777
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2015, 02:05:30 am
content: Quote from: entwiz on October 09, 2015, 01:38:02 amWelcome and thanks. I didn't know about this. I am sure they use it in China

author: SteveLy
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2015, 04:45:46 am
content: Quote from: blueskull on October 09, 2015, 11:27:06 pmYeah, good one! Could be the ticket to youtube fame and fortune.

author: Galenbo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2015, 08:43:35 am
content: Quote from: vlad777 on October 08, 2015, 04:18:07 pmThere's a good use of these "older" machines. For converting a conventional machine to CNC.There are some special OS that convert your PC to a dedicated machine controller.A mill, lathe, plasma cutter is useful, but for more house/office environments you can control an engraver, pickandplace, gluepistol,...They are also interesting as datalogger. Sensors readouts are collected, only the report goes to other machines.

author: Rasz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2015, 04:36:14 pm
content: just throw them away

author: crispy_tofu
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2015, 11:28:38 pm
content: These machines are probably way too old. Soldering practice, maybe?

author: vlad777
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2015, 03:29:32 pm
content: Quote from: crispy_tofu on October 10, 2015, 11:28:38 pmSoldering mobos is not a joke. Did you try that sometime?Too much heat capacity , too many tiny traces you can kill easily.

author: crispy_tofu
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2015, 07:43:43 pm
content: Quote from: vlad777 on October 11, 2015, 03:29:32 pmExactly, it's a challenge.