Low Power P2P Server Hardware ?

[phil2004]

I would like to run my own, dedicated, P2P server on my ADSL connection. I have a couple of concerns -

a) Power consumption - I`m on a very limited budget as far as variable costs go.

b) Reliability - is something like an old laptop going to react well to being left on 24/7 or 12/7 or 8/7, or along those lines.

So does anybody have any suggestions for suitable hardware with _very_ low power consumption.

 

[phil2004]

Looks like I was far too worried about power consumption. I have a 400 megahertz, 128 megabyte, Gateway laptop with a 15" TFT screen and, as if by magic, I stumbled across a device I bought from an electronics store years ago (that I never used and forgot about) which actually measures how much power a device uses when connected to the mains. The figure I get for my old laptop is 33 watts in total (hope my equipment is accurate) but even if I round it up to 40 or more, to add some overhead for disk head movement, it is still an absolute pittance financially - even running 24/7 for a whole year. I assume the average 20-30 gigabyte laptop drive is pretty reliable, and cheap, so hopefully this should make a decent dedicated P2P server.

 

[SearchMaster]

Be careful with your laptop...if you leave your batteries charging all the time (which is what will happen if it's plugged in constantly), the batteries will die a premature death. If you're going to leave it on all the time anyway, you might want to remove the battery.

 

[phil2004]

Thanks for the advice, luckily I tend to remove the batteries from all my notebooks anyway because I value the portability of laptops rather than being able to use them away from a mains supply in out of the way locations - plus replacement batteries can be expensive items.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

I'd be more concerned with your ISP kicking your door in after they discover you've opened up a new Warez-R-Us franchise.

- M4H

 

[phil2004]

Mmmm, thanks for your concern but it`s for testing out anonymous P2P systems like Mute, GNUnet, and Freenet - at least one of which works better if the server is online for a number of days while it gets acquainted with its network location. :disgust: