Now then, I’m looking for a DC project.
But not one that needs a vast array of shiny hardware.
I’m looking for one with good stats reporting that would run on a fairly low spec laptop under some flavour of Linux.
Why I’m considering this will become clear later but first I need to find a project suited to a few hours a day of CPU time that doesnt time a unit out after a few days.
I’m teetering towards Folding, can you pick small units for small points still ?
Any suggestions welcome
Docking units don’t time out… :tiphat:
They have a deadline… but even if you exceed that deadline you still get the credit.
My old work Laptop (1.5Ghz single core Banias chip) still contributes to F@H, current WU will take about 28 hours but has a 21 day deadline - so even as little as 1.5 hours a day will still see it complete in time.
There is very little difference between Linux and Windows theses days when crunching F@H.
I say docking it up mr Tee Eff Witt. We need all the help we can get!!!
Butuz
[QUOTE=Mortlake;456727]My old work Laptop (1.5Ghz single core Banias chip) still contributes to F@H, current WU will take about 28 hours but has a 21 day deadline - so even as little as 1.5 hours a day will still see it complete in time.
There is very little difference between Linux and Windows theses days when crunching F@H.[/QUOTE]
Well, I’m considering buying a semi busted laptop, one of the many that works but has a cracked screen and no hard drive and making it net-boot an OS, such as Linux and mount a shared drive from a server.
Then I want it to crunch until the power runs out.
The idea is to have a go at making a carbon-neutral processing unit, or one that runs solely from solar/wind power for as long as it can.
It’s a noble idea TF!! Definatly worth a go as a fun project. Not worth a go financially mind.
Problem is solar / wind power is just not viable for powering data crunching PC’s. You’d probably have to spend ~500 quid approx in order to get a solar / wind system that would be able to power a 50 watt laptop 24/7.
Thats £500 odd on powering an old laptop that may not actually crunch too much, and actually only costs a 10 quid a year in electricity to leave on 24/7.
If you want any more info give me a shout i’ve done a bit of work with this subject as my server cab has a 4kw solar power feed during the day. Only coz I got it silly cheap mind and even then the numbers barely stack up. If I had to pay full price the numbers would only actually stack up to someone like gordon brown 
Butuz
I’ve got a ‘busted screen’ laptop that I’ve kept whilst keeping an eye out for a replacement screen on ebay, HP sempron something I think.
Yours for the taking 
DT.
Butuz, I don’t think TFW has buying a new power generation kit in mind. Think DIY generation I’d be interested to see what happens there…
4kw from a solar feed doesnt go far with server grade hardware.
I was thinking of choosing a laptop because it should be optimised for lower power needs to squeeze a longer (but mostly fictional) battery life figure for the manufacturers spec sheet.
Add to this the removal of Screen, HDD, CDrom possibly and I bet it comes in under 25w.
DT, cheers for the offer of a project laptop, You’ll have to pop over one evening and check out my new “local”.
Can you see what model it is ?
I’m going to design to “solar array” to provide the native DC voltage to run the laptop to minimise power loss.
If the internal battery is any good I might use that as the power storage
As for pricing, a 50w 12v Solar panel can be had off the 'Bay for £140 at present
just rang home to get specs, and handily I had put a post it note on the laptop
Sempron 3600+, 1Gb ram, 80Gb HD - Compaq 6715s. Unknown battery state and I’m not 100% I’ve got a power adapter for it, could be hiding in the box of stuff. Screen has been removed as I had my eye on a replacement from ebay, but it got too expensive to warrant fixing the thing.
DT.
Cool!!
Few observations to bear in mind TFW:
A 12v panel actually produces 17 - 18v in sunlight so be careful about plugging that straight into a 12v laptop.
A 50w panel only actually produces 50w in strong direct sunlight. As this is the UK - that won’t be much of the time. More often than not you’ll only actually be getting 5 - 30w out of the panel for approx 8 hours out of 24…
You need to store the power somewhere, be it in a normal 12v battery or in the laptop battery itself. This is to take advantage of the times where your panel is actually producing more power than your using - solar power is so expensive you don’t want to spill or waste a single drop of it!
The lower the voltage of the panels the fatter the cables you need. Using 24v panels through a charge controller of some kind will mean you can use cable either twice as long as 12v, or the same length but half as thin.
Butuz
I was hoping that being about as far from sunny as you can get would drive down the prices of Solar panels but that doesnt seem to be happening.
Anyone know a better place than Ebay to get hold of some hardware ?
Yo TFW. Unfortunately prices of panels have barely changed in the last 6 months. It’s a shame. I have not found a cheaper place than ebay, unless you have mates in the trade (or in china) which I unfortunately do not.
The feed in tarrif will drive prices down as uptake increases. Unfortunately it looks like it’s going to take a good few years for prices to radically change.
I’ve just moved to somewhere with a West/East facing roof so solar is a moot point for the time being.
Butuz