[Peroxide]

Any specific OS you use?

I was trying to find one that uses the least amount of resources, but it's really hard to compare and figure out which uses the least.

So what do you use?

 

[dex100]

You need to elaborate on the question, do you mean a [email protected] farm? or the type with nodes and clusters? (server like thingy)
Edit: Doh!!!! I just use xp MCE... if you wan't it to be more effective go into task manager then the process menu and close all those unecessary tasks...

 

[not2bad]

Well it is in the folding section..

 

[jrabb1920]

I use 2000pro on my rigs in my farm, very stable os for folding.

 

[Peroxide]

I ask this because I'm most likely getting a bunch of old Dell Optiplex G1
Quote:

Intel Pentium(r) II; 300 MHz Maxtor 8648OD6 (4 GB) ATI Technologies Rage IIC 1X AGP; 4 MB 64 MB RAM (Probably PC100 or 133) 3Com 3C905B-TX FAST ETHERLINK XL PCI

I know, it's probably a waste of hydro, but still, I'm getting them for free so I figure anything would help. I was just wondering what would be the least demanding or barebone OS to use on these systems.

 

[slow'puter]

Win98
WinXP Pro sp2
Win2000
Ubuntu Linux

 

[Taeric]

98
2000 Pro
XP Pro
XP Home

Some version of Linux probably would use the least resources, but depending on your system specs and exact WU, the exact amount of resources doesn't matter too much. The largest WUs out there take up to around 500 MB of RAM, so as long as you have that plus enough to run Windows, you're good to go (most WUs use far less RAM).

 

[Mental]

computers that slow are almost worthless for folding. i know alot of you are going to say that no computer is too slow to fold, but depending on how many youre getting youd probably be better off selling them all and buying one or two decently equipped rigs

 

[Taeric]

I look at it this way - if a computer is so slow that the money I spend on electricity to run the folding applications would be better off donated to a charity, I won't fold with it. P3s are competent folders, but I wouldn't suggest using anything slower.

 

[Ty Auchter]

Indeed... The slowest processor I'm using is a P3 900 MHz. I need to get a better motherboard for it though. Right now it's using a Gateway board so I can't overclock it. It doesn't even have a spot where jumpers should be to just solder wires to them.

 

[PhireX]

my farm image...(would u believe i have an 'image')....is.....

safe xp (to disable anything unnecessary)
vnc (easy remote access internally)
symmantec anti virus, etc (doubt they will get a virus but you never know)
and of course fah..

all on win xp, speaking of farms I do have to mention i have just built mind, if you check phirex now on our team i have 5 active cpu's within 7 days, 3 p4's and 2 amd 's (1100 & 1000) going 24/7, pumping out about 2k points a week

so I should soar up shortly!!!!! watch this space.....i picked up the last 1100 for about $60 and threw it in an old case & chucked an old hdd and some ram lying around in it and bobs ure uncle, now it's doing a tinker about every 3 days....

and ive resigned from my job, but it will be folding forever hopefully, and it's a nice 3ghz with a1gb ram, it's hyperthread so only ever uses 50% of the cpu, which is fine for the apps it runs.....1gb ram helps..

hope to go even more, I want 10!

 

[Mental]

i would replace symantec antivirus with some other program, if not just completely get rid of it. if your pcs are behind a firewall and all theyre doing is folding you dont really need to have any antivirus, but if you just want to be on the safe side you should check out Avast! instead of symantec. Avast! is free so you wouldnt have to pay an extra $20 or whatever just for software on each pc

 

[Peroxide]

How well does Safe XP work?

(I'm currently on XP Home)

 

[Pinhead-227]

Win98 Lite or 98Micro. www.litepc.com

You can install everything in under 50Mb.

Quote:

98micro is an installation option in 98lite PROFESSIONAL that uses the Windows 95 Explorer to perform an ultra-clean installation of Windows98 without any part of the MS HTML (Internet Explorer) engine. You get a lean, mean operating system in under 70 Mb that is ideal for many applications. You can push the envelope further and get Windows98 under 50 Mb! (see below) 98micro completely removes all traces of the MS HTML engine (shdocvw.dll, and mshtml.dll). You will not have access to any of the proprietary Microsoft compressed help files, and you will not be able to run programs that rely on the MS HTML rendering engine, but many other stand-alone applications will perform better than ever. For example, you can not run Outlook Express, FrontPage, and MS Money. But a system with Netscape, Opera, Pegasus Mail, Gravity, Agent will just fine! Even Microsoft Office97 will install and run beautifully under 98micro! So who's going to be the first to run a self contained windows application from a zip disk?!

http://www.litepc.com/98micro.html