Low-Power Home Linux Server? 697
mpol writes "For years I've been using a home server with Linux, but recently I've been having doubts about the electric bill. I'm not touched by the recession yet, but I would like to cut costs, and going from a 100-Watt system to a 30-Watt system would save me 70 bucks a year. The system doesn't need to do much, just apache, imap, ssh and some nfs, but I do prefer to have a full-fledged system, where I can choose what to install on it. I also don't really care if it's a low-power Via or an ARM processor as long as it's cheap. I'm aiming for $300 or less for a full system, which I could then earn back in about four years through power savings. I've been reading about the Western Digital Mybook World Edition, which has an ARM processor but isn't that easy to install Debian on. A Mac Mini draws about 85 Watts, so that isn't an option either. Something a bit more than turn-key would be fine, but preferably not a complete hack-job. Adding a temporary CR-ROM or DVD-ROM, or a USB disk with an iso to install from would be nice. Any Slashdotters run nice and cheap low-power Linux systems? What can you recommend?"
Go with the Digi-Comp (Score:1, Insightful)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digi-Comp_I [wikipedia.org]
Mac Mini idles at 13 watts! (Score:5, Insightful)
Where on earth did you get 85? Are you reading that off the power brick? Those figures are meaningless for this purpose - that's the total load the PS is rated to deliver, not the average load at the wall socket.
The Mac Mini has all the components and power management features of a notebook so it's going to be about as good as you can get. For less money, the FitPC or a second-hand laptop is probably the next best choice.
Mac Mini (Score:2, Insightful)
You mentioned a Mac Mini, but what if you put Linux on the Mac Mini and clock it to 500 mhz? Maybe you can shut down one of the cores somehow to conserve more power.
Mac Mini power-draw - some actual facts (sorry!) (Score:3, Insightful)
http://www.goodcleantech.com/2009/03/its_official_apple_mac_mini_is.php [goodcleantech.com]
"The mini uses only 15W while idling in our tests, and a low 34W while running the CineBench benchmark test"
So it's $70 a year.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Mac Mini idles at 13 watts! (Score:5, Insightful)
Here is Apples's spec on the power usage: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3468 [apple.com]
I have confirmed 13W on a recent model using a kill-a-watt meter.
Fit-PC2 (Intel Atom) uses only 6W at idle, 8W full load.
Re:Mac Mini idles at 13 watts! (Score:3, Insightful)
Use a linux router (Score:2, Insightful)
Save power in other ways (Score:3, Insightful)
Save money in other places first, have you replaced all your light bulbs with CFL's yet? You won't notice the difference between a 100 watt incandescent and the equivelant 24 watt CFL, but you probably will notice the difference between a 100 and 30 watt server.
Marvell Plug (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:So it's $70 a year.... (Score:5, Insightful)
There is a lot of energy that goes into making a new computer. You need to factor that in before you can decide if you are really saving energy.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Underclocking (Score:2, Insightful)
110 W is the power adapter max output, so that your Mac Mini is able to run both cores at 100% and power 5 USB drives for example. Actual power depends on actual usage.
Re:Underclocking (Score:5, Insightful)
I second this - a few years back I switched my home server to a Mac Mini from an old x86 box, for power draw and space/noise reasons, much like the original poster. At the time I checked out alternatives, but there wasn't much to recommend other machines, all the ones I could find had much more limited storage space. No doubt that has improved recently, but being able to fit any standard 2.5" drive is a big advantage if you want to use it as a file server.
My Mini draws 20W when idling (I tested it with a kill-a-watt). Power use will be higher under heavy load, of course, but your average home server spends most of the time idling. I'm pretty sure the 85W/110W ratings are the maximum the PSU can handle, not the power draw you'd expect in normal use. My box runs a web server, ssh, mail server, file server and various other bits and pieces. X is not installed. It is one of the old PowerPC Minis, which I think draw a bit less than the more recent Intel Minis, but I can't imagine the power draw has increased that much.
My advice to the OP would be to pick up a second hand Mini and use that - there might be machines out there designed specifically as low power home servers, but Minis are fairly easy to come by and easy to install Linux on as people have been doing it for a few years now, even if Apple don't encourage it. If you're thinking about environmental impact as well as your electricity bill, buying a second hand machine is going to be better than buying a new piece of kit. This was another part of my decision to go with a Mini, there are various computers designed to do the sort of thing the OP has asked for, but they're much more niche and consequently hard to find second hand.
By the way, if you choose to use a PowerPC Mini, choose a distro that fully supports PowerPC! When I set up the box Ubuntu still officially supported PowerPC, but it has since been switched to unofficial ports only support, which is pretty flaky. Debian is a much better bet, I am now using that as it is much more reliable (note to anyone who wants to call me on this, I am very happy using Ubuntu on x86 desktop, but my recent experiences of the PowerPC releases have not been favourable).
Some people are suggesting laptops, but I wouldn't recommend one myself. For one thing, they aren't designed or expected to be on all the time, and I suspect you're more likely to run into heating and dust related issues. For another, one of the main advantages of a laptop is that it has a battery and therefore won't require a UPS. However, leaving the machine constantly on and charging is going to kill the battery life fairly quickly, at which point it's not really very useful. On top of that, most laptops use 80W+ when running on mains power. They're usually only designed to save power when running from battery. Obviously you can change the power saving settings, but it's going to be a pain to do so.
Re:Linkstation Pro Duo (Score:4, Insightful)
Is it really worth buying some new kit whose sole purpose is to save money when, towards the end of it's lifetime, you will just about have saved the money you spent to buy it? How about saving yourself the time and not doing it?
Re:why bother (Score:3, Insightful)
Except that your old but useable car is not thrown away and demolished. It is recycled instantly - through the used car market.
The chain goes like this: you throw out a five-year old Volkswagen (already pretty fuel efficient) for a brand new Toyota Prius III (maximum fuel efficiency for a medium-largeish compact car). Your new Prius used up energy for manufacturing and uses only a little less gas so for you, it's going to take a while reaching a lower energy expenditure in total.
But your Volkswagen is not scrapped, but sold. Someone who still owns a ten-year old car of a similar size can now throw out that model to buy a cheap used car that is much more fuel efficient than their current one. Which is probably also sold used if it still works, so someone with an even older car can cheaply replace it.
The entire thing becomes a LIFO chain if newer cars are generally more efficient than the old ones. The more efficient models are then pushed down the replacement path through different social stratums, while every 'wealth level' gets an upgrade and a more fuel efficient car.
Re:Underclocking (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Underclocking (Score:5, Insightful)
Err.. Pretty much all of the reasons you give for not using a laptop are just plain wrong or at least only applicable to certain laptops. Basically the "Desktop Replacement" type laptops that were sold in the year or two leading up to the core2Duo were often essentially desktop processors crammed into a laptop sized case and pretty much behaved the way you described with some poor little fan running full tilt pretty much the whole time. Most older and newer laptops do a lot better though. I have a Toshiba U405D (dual core AMD Turon) right now doing a Vista -> Win 7 upgrade and is using about 40W. My thinkpad A22 (1GHZ P3) running Ubuntu is consuming 25W doing some light web browsing. With the screens off they would both use less of course. As for the battery life issue, while it's true that L-ion batteries will live longer if stored at somewhat less than a full charge the difference isn't that large. Most of these batteries are rated for something like 300 - 400 charge/discharge cycles which is a lot for the sort of usage we're talking about. Remember, these types of batteries/chargers don't just keep charging like NiCads sometimes did. They just charge up and stop.
Re:Underclocking (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Linkstation Pro Duo (Score:4, Insightful)
I second this idea. I have an old athlon linux server next to the furnace that runs all sorts of crap. I was thinking of replacing it with an Atom based MOBO and some new drives. But I kept spec'ing a $750 system to replace my Raid5 athlon box. I kept thinking that for most of the year where I live, the server is actually heating my house, and every watt it consumes goes to heat. So it's like running a 150 watt space heater. That's bad in the summer when I'm paying for the heat, then paying to remove it, but this time of year, the heat is welcome.
So I'm waiting for it to die, or for drives to get bigger so I can use fewer of them and simplify the system.
Sheldon
Re:Underclocking (Score:3, Insightful)
Also, the mac mini draws 110 watts http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/mac_mini?aid=AIC-NAUS-K2-BUYNOW-MACMINI-DESIGN&cp=BUYNOW-MACMINI-DESIGN [apple.com]
Maximum. Mostly-idle use runs at 13W, which spanks an Atom in power/performance. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3468 [apple.com]
Re:Underclocking (Score:3, Insightful)
power supply on a mini is external, so easy to replace!
Re:Underclocking (Score:2, Insightful)
...The Mac Mini is so much more expensive....
Even though the server version of the Mini costs $999, it may not be more expensive for someone who is not a Linux expert or doesn't want to spend a lot of time setting up such a server and maintaining it.
It is likely however that this would not apply to most users here on Slashdot.
The new server version of the Mini comes with the Snow Leopard of OS X, which is easy to set up for a non-expert. According to Apple, it uses only 14 w when idle. As a home server, that would be most of the time. It is also silent and can be put almost anywhere because it is so small. External FireWire or USB disk drives can be used for storage and/or automatic backups using Time machine.