Home Network

Computers, Network, Hubs, Linux Beowulf Cluster

The entire computer network is for sale as a single item. This includes 22 computers, one monitor, three hubs, network hardware, three printers, and lots of extra computer pieces. Nineteen of the computers have Linux installed, the other three have Windows 95 or 98. The listing below shows everything.

22 computers:
(1) 486DX2-50, 12 MB memory, 3.5" floppy, 200 MB hard drive pre-loaded with Linux, 10 Mbps ethernet card, video card
(2) 486DX2-50, 12 MB memory, 3.5" floppy, 200 MB hard drive pre-loaded with Linux, 10 Mbps ethernet card, video card
(3) 486DX2-50, 12 MB memory, 3.5" floppy, 200 MB hard drive pre-loaded with Linux, 10 Mbps ethernet card, video card
(4) 486DX-33, 12 MB memory, 3.5" floppy, 175 MB hard drive pre-loaded with Linux, 10 Mbps ethernet card, video card
(5) 486DX2-50, 12 MB memory, 3.5" floppy, 200 MB hard drive pre-loaded with Linux, 10 Mbps ethernet card, video card
(6) 486SX-33, 8 MB memory, 3.5" floppy, 5.25" floppy, 175 MB hard drive pre-loaded with Linux, 10 Mbps ethernet card, video card
(7) 486DX-33, 12 MB memory, 3.5" floppy, 175 MB hard drive pre-loaded with Linux, 10 Mbps ethernet card, video card
(8) 486DX2-66, 8 MB memory, 3.5" floppy, 5.25" floppy, 200 MB hard drive pre-loaded with Linux, 10 Mbps ethernet card, video card
(9) Pentium 100, 16 MB memory, CDROM, 120 MB 4mm DAT, 3.5" floppy, 5.25" floppy, 200 MB hard drive pre-loaded with Linux, 10 Mbps ethernet card, video card
(10) 486SX-33, 8 MB memory, 3.5" floppy, 175 MB hard drive pre-loaded with Linux, 10 Mbps ethernet card, video card
(11) 486DX2-50, 12 MB memory, 3.5" floppy, 200 MB hard drive pre-loaded with Linux, 10 Mbps ethernet card, video card
(12) Pentium 166, 16 MB memory, CDROM, 3.5" floppy, 5.25" floppy, 200 MB hard drive pre-loaded with Linux, 10 Mbps ethernet card, video card
(13) Pentium 100, 16 MB memory, CDROM, 3.5" floppy, 200 MB hard drive pre-loaded with Linux, 10 Mbps ethernet card, video card
(14) 486DX2-50, 12 MB memory, 3.5" floppy, 200 MB hard drive pre-loaded with Linux, 10 Mbps ethernet card, video card
(15) 486DX2-50, 12 MB memory, 3.5" floppy, 200 MB hard drive pre-loaded with Linux, 10 Mbps ethernet card, video card
(16) 486DX2-66, 8 MB memory, 3.5" floppy, 5.25" floppy, 200 MB hard drive pre-loaded with Linux, 10 Mbps ethernet card, video card
(17) 486DX2-66, 8 MB memory, 3.5" floppy, 5.25" floppy, 200 MB hard drive pre-loaded with Linux, 10 Mbps ethernet card, video card
(18) 486SX-33, 8 MB memory, 3.5" floppy, 5.25" floppy, 175 MB hard drive pre-loaded with Linux, 10 Mbps ethernet card, video card
(19) 486DX2-80, 8 MB memory, 3.5" floppy, 5.25" floppy, 200 MB hard drive pre-loaded with Linux, 10 Mbps ethernet card, video card
(20) 486DX4-100, 16 MB memory, 3.5" floppy, 450 MB hard drive pre-loaded with Windows 95, 10 Mbps ethernet card, video card
(21) Pentium 200MMX, 32 MB memory, CDROM, 3.5" floppy, 500 MB hard drive pre-loaded with Windows 95, 100 Mbps ethernet card, video card
(22) Pentium 200MMX, 64 MB memory, CDROM, 3.5" floppy, 500 MB hard drive pre-loaded with Windows 98 SE, 100 Mbps ethernet card, video card

NOTE: The Pentium 166 refuses to boot after a recent move of the network. All the components function fine, but I can't get it to boot. All other computers work fine.

Network hardware:
Synoptics Lattishub 2804, 10 Mbps 16-port hub
Synoptics Lattishub 2814, 10 Mbps 16-port hub
10-BaseFL (fiber optic) connection between Synoptics hubs
Linksys 10 Mbps 5-port hub
14" monitor
Power cables and ethernet cords for all components

In addition to the running network, I have a whole bunch of extra computer equipment that goes with it:
Panasonic KXP-2130 color printer
Compaq IJ1200 color printer
Lexmark 1100 color printer
six keyboards
nine mice (mouses?)
three 3.5" floppy drives
two Labtec speakers and power supply
one boom microphone
two 130 MB harddrives
three 80 MB harddrives
two 105 MB hardcards (fit into ISA slots - they have there own IDE controllers)
120 MB 4mm DAT drive
Reveal 4x CDROM drive
Creative Labs 8x CDROM drive
LG DVD/CDROM drive (DVD function does not work, CD works fine 40x)
four 486 motherboards
box of expansion cards: video, ethernet, parallel, serial, sound, several 56k modems; >25 cards total
box of about two hundred 1 MB DIMMS
one functioning laptop (old - think ancient, green screen monitor)
one non-functioning laptop (color screen works fine; main board needs to be fixed)
one laptop traveling case
various external power supplies (transformers)

Software:
Peanut Linux 8.1 (1 CD)
Peanut Linux 9.0 (1 CD)
Redhat Linux 7.0 (2 CD's)
Mandrake Linux 8.0 (2 CD's)
Borland C++ 3.0 (set of floppies)

Books:
Borland Turbo Debugger & Tools 2.0, complete set
Borland Turbo Debugger & Tools 3.0
Windows 95 Secrets
Killer Windows 95

Here is a chart of the LAN setup. You may notice in the chart that the computers are named after some Egyptian gods. Not really - they are all named after characters from the television series Stargate SG-1. I have built this over the past few years and just don't have time to work with it anymore. This portion for sale is part of our total home network. The entire network and network setup hints can be found at http://www.chrisgood.com/network/index.html.

LINUX I am running the Peanut 8.1 distribution of Linux. Version 9.0 is the newest on the website and can be downloaded for free. Both versions of Peanut, plus copies of Redhat and Mandrake are included. I had planned to build this network into a Linux Beowulf cluster but never got to installing the Beowulf software. Realize that all of these computers together probably have less computing power than a single 1 GHz machine. It was all built for experimenting with networks and Linux.

VIRTUAL NETWORK COMPUTING (VNC) Since there is only a single monitor included with this sale, if you want to access the other Windows machines from the main computer, you need a remote desktop server. I am using Virtual Network Computing (VNC) from Cambridge and AT&T. It is free and works great. The server software is installed on whatever machine you want to control (while you have a monitor, keyboard, and mouse hooked up) and the client software is installed on the machine with the keyboard, mouse, and monitor. Once the server is installed, that machine no longer needs any input or output control devices except a network connection. Turn the machine on, log onto it from the client, and you are presented with a full, virtual screen of the remote machine.

There is too much weight here to ship this; probably close to 300 pounds of computers and equipment. I will meet you anywhere within a few hours drive of Baltimore, Maryland.