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Hi all,
I've been trying to decide what forum would be best for this question but I couldn't really decide so I opted for this general purpose forum. If the mods think it is better elsewhere, please move it.
I have spent the last two days looking for a computer case that looks like an 'appliance' (think router, not toaster). I work for a company that wrote a new open-source backup program and we want to offer pre-configured machines. The trick is, and anyone who is a sysadmin here will likely attest to, most people would rather a hole in their head than yet another server to manage.
So, we want to make this machine look very much *not* like a server (or a compter at all, ideally). It uses a web-interface anyway so only the most basic video is needed (mainly just to install Debian) and sound will never be used. It is a database-intensive application though so I need a fair amount raw horsepower.
Where I need advice;
So far I have found this Tyan Transport GS12 which is perfect... Except it's a P4 board and I want AMD.
The problem is that, even as a ten-year die-hard fan of Intel, I've been forced to admit that AMD is much faster at running PostgreSQL.
What I need:
- As small as possible but big enough for an AMD-based mainboard (mATX, likely).
- I need a case that can be either set on a table or be racked (by just adding rack-ears).
- It needs to support at least one 3.5" hard drive, preferably two though (for a dedicate WAL scratch disk).
- *Either* one fully open 5.25" bay (for a swapable disk carrier) or no bays at all. I can live with USB-connected drives when needed (rare if ever).
- Either a free PCI slot or on-board FireWire800/USB2.
- No audio ports on the front (or anything that says "stereo component") if at all possible.
- Being Debian (proudly not bleeding edge) I would like to avoid bare-bone systems with newer chipsets (ie: nForce4) though, if everything else is good, I will deal with the hassle of getting the chipset working.
I used to be obsessed with hardware until two years ago... I feel bad actually needing to ask this because I used to consider myself pretty well up on anything hardware. But then the evil tendrils of Linux programming grabbed me and I just fell out of touch.
Any advice or suggestions will be *very* appreciated. We are a very small company and just don't have the resources to get something custom made. As of now I am going to use the Tyan machine but I would really rather something AMD capable.
Digimer
PS - For anyone interested, as of now we are planning to make the removable drives (for storing the backed-up data) using the StoreCase DS321 dual-firewire carrier. A case with an fully opened 5.25" drive bay will let us save the money of needing this (we have 5.25" internal swapable drives already).
I've been trying to decide what forum would be best for this question but I couldn't really decide so I opted for this general purpose forum. If the mods think it is better elsewhere, please move it.
I have spent the last two days looking for a computer case that looks like an 'appliance' (think router, not toaster). I work for a company that wrote a new open-source backup program and we want to offer pre-configured machines. The trick is, and anyone who is a sysadmin here will likely attest to, most people would rather a hole in their head than yet another server to manage.
So, we want to make this machine look very much *not* like a server (or a compter at all, ideally). It uses a web-interface anyway so only the most basic video is needed (mainly just to install Debian) and sound will never be used. It is a database-intensive application though so I need a fair amount raw horsepower.
Where I need advice;
So far I have found this Tyan Transport GS12 which is perfect... Except it's a P4 board and I want AMD.
The problem is that, even as a ten-year die-hard fan of Intel, I've been forced to admit that AMD is much faster at running PostgreSQL.What I need:
- As small as possible but big enough for an AMD-based mainboard (mATX, likely).
- I need a case that can be either set on a table or be racked (by just adding rack-ears).
- It needs to support at least one 3.5" hard drive, preferably two though (for a dedicate WAL scratch disk).
- *Either* one fully open 5.25" bay (for a swapable disk carrier) or no bays at all. I can live with USB-connected drives when needed (rare if ever).
- Either a free PCI slot or on-board FireWire800/USB2.
- No audio ports on the front (or anything that says "stereo component") if at all possible.
- Being Debian (proudly not bleeding edge) I would like to avoid bare-bone systems with newer chipsets (ie: nForce4) though, if everything else is good, I will deal with the hassle of getting the chipset working.
I used to be obsessed with hardware until two years ago... I feel bad actually needing to ask this because I used to consider myself pretty well up on anything hardware. But then the evil tendrils of Linux programming grabbed me and I just fell out of touch.
Any advice or suggestions will be *very* appreciated. We are a very small company and just don't have the resources to get something custom made. As of now I am going to use the Tyan machine but I would really rather something AMD capable.
Digimer
PS - For anyone interested, as of now we are planning to make the removable drives (for storing the backed-up data) using the StoreCase DS321 dual-firewire carrier. A case with an fully opened 5.25" drive bay will let us save the money of needing this (we have 5.25" internal swapable drives already).