OT: Lowest-power small server solutions

[Scott Stevens]

On Wed, 02 Nov 2005 12:10:56 -0500
Allison <ajp166 at bellatlantic.net> wrote:

> >
> >Subject: Re: OT:  Lowest-power small server solutions
> >   From: "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com>
> >   Date: Wed, 02 Nov 2005 08:42:40 -0800
> >     To: cctalk at classiccmp.org
> >
> >On 11/1/2005 at 8:38 PM Scott Stevens wrote:
> >
> >>Any suggestions of a better battery (cheaper, mostly) to 'strap on' to Sun
> >>NVRAMs?  I am going to use AAA lithiums on this machine, which should last
> >>forever, but they're a bit pricey.
> >
> >Why not just some plain old AA alkalines?  You should get a couple of years
> >(i.e. shelf life)out of each set.
> >
> >--Chuck
> >
> 
> Why not use a 2032 3V lithium coin cell?  They are cheap and small too.
> For that backup use they should last years.
> 
> Allison
That's probably what I should do.  I even have a number of scrap motherboards with the 2032 size battery holder on them.  That will superglue nicely on top of the NVRAM module.

It's a bother reprogramming the NVRAM contents (you lose the MAC address, etc.) and I want a quasi-permanent solution, which the bigger AAA batteries represents.  But it gets expensive putting a $5 pair of AAA lithium batteries in each machine when you have a lot of Sparcs.  (the NVRAM FAQ says "it's best just to spend the $20 on a new NVRAM," but that's from an era when these Sun boxes were Big Bux and people didn't have a pile of them to maintain.  $20 multipies out to a big number here, and just buying another 48c02 module sets me up for another $20 sooner than I'd want)

Backup batteries in general is a topic worth pondering with 'vintage' computer hardware. 




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