Thoughts on New Lab

I'm building a new test lab. To start, I needed a lot of Cat 5 cables of specific lengths and colors. Cat5Net.com's handy order form lets you specify just what you need, and their customer service is excellent. Next I wanted a new FreeBSD network management station, so I bought a used Dell Poweredge 2300. For experience with commerical UNIX boxes, I acquired (all used) a Sun Ultra 30 (AnswerBook; I needed a floppy and video adapter) an 7043-150 IBM RS/6000 Model 150 (hardware info) to run AIX 5L Version 5.2 (good AIX site, patches, and support for open source software), and an HP Visualize B2000 to run HP-UX 11i (software news, informal HP box timeline, floppy woes). (Linux is an option too! I feared I needed an adapter like this for HP's EVC-enabled DVI connector, but didn't need one.) Resellers include NORCO, Southwest Computer Solutions, AnySystem, and Elarasys.) Video standards helped me know I could connect, using adapters, to my PC monitor. I hope to run Windows Server 2003 on a Dell OptiPlex GX100, but may need more memory. I think my DSL line will have a Speedstream 5871 router.

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