Re: Is AMD-64 mature enough to start using? (possibly on K8V-MX moptherboard)
Paolo Alexis Falcone <pfalcone@gmail.com> writes:
> On 12/21/05, hendrik@topoi.pooq.com <hendrik@topoi.pooq.com> wrote:
>> I have had it proposed to me that I might set up a server for
>> my LAN (Not the internet gateway) as a Sempron system running
>> Linux. Specifically, an Asus K8V-MX Athlon 64 motherboard,
>> an AMD Sempron64 2600, 512 meg DDR PC-3200 w/o ECC.
>> to quote from the quotation.
Better invest in a full 1GB ram. It is worth it. Check the motherbook
specs. Often a pair of DIMMs will be used interleaved. In that case 2x
512MB would be better than 1x 1GB.
>> My question is, is the Debian AMD64 platform ready for such use?
It is quite widely used and apart from figuring out the initial
install on some new hardware nobody seems to scream about problems.
>> I can see lots of complaints on the mailing lists, but that
>> doesn't make it clear whether troubles are normal or unusual.
Install problems are normal. But after that there is very little.
>> Very few happy users ever write in to say how happy they are.
>> Presumably I'd be using the unofficial sarge release ... or has it
>> become official in the meantime? Or is etch actually more reliable right now?
Sarge is the reliable one. Unstable is unreliable and etch/testing is
mostly useless on amd64. The script handling our testing migration is
suboptimal and needs someone intrested in writing a full britney clone
that keeps in sync with debian where possible.
Imho at the moment etch is only good to downgrade package in case sid
breaks. Not as standalone use.
>> The server will initially be running an NFS server that serves from a
>> software RAID (hard disks presumably partitioned using LVM). I'm
>> considering putting everybody's home directory on it so that they will
>> have their bookmarks, configurations, etc. available whatever machine
>> in the house they are actually sitting at. But if they wish, they
>> should also be able to remotely log into the server usng XDMCP. Or
You most definetly want more than 512MB then. Multiple users running a
mozilla or galleon easily makes it swap a lot.
>> use VNC. Oh, yes. One or two of my users are collecting video files
>> (mostly .mpg). Would accessing them from another machine using NFS (100
>> MHz ethernet)
>> be fast enough for them to view them? Even if tow people did it at the
>> same time?
Usuay mpeg/avi files are encoded at around 200KiB/s. With 100MBit
ethernet you have around 6-10MiB/s bandwith available or 30-50 streams
in parallel. Should be no problem.
> For the purposes you mentioned the AMD64 machine would not only be
> seamless. It's also a very good/overkill setup :D
And if you hit any problems you can always back down to Debian i386
and go 32bit. The speed difference is not that relevant and certainly
both are way fast enough to saturate the 100MBit ethernet.
If you have concerns about the network speed think about buying a
gigabit switch. Even if everyone else has just 100MBit multiple users
at 100MBit can be served by one GBit link to the amd64 system and
basicaly all amd64 boards come with GBit onboard.
MfG
Goswin
Reply to: