X-Sender: iamdan@pop.unc.edu
Date: Wed, 7 Apr 1999 11:35:02 -0500
To: "Angelo Bonadonna" <bonadonna@mercy.sxu.edu>
From: Daniel Anderson <iamdan@unc.edu>
Subject: Re:
Hey Angelo. I'd offer these on list, except I'm not positive that the people at texas are ready to go public with theirs yet. They don't mind if you investigate and use them though. In terms of the kind of box you can get, these tools mostly run on any unix, so linux on a cheap PC is probably the way to go. The easiest way to get that set up is to buy a CD with linux on it from RedHat. The linux is actually free, but on the cd you get apache and all the other components necessary and it costs like 50$ and makes everything way easier.
You might think about seeing if you can get someone to pony up a bit more of the support money initially. 1000 will go pretty far, but for a server to work well more might help. Here's what I'd keep in mind.
*You should try to get 128 mbs of ram if at all possible.
*Also, the more standard the components, the likelier things will be to work. Going with something like a Dell or Gateway or IBM, rather than a no name brand is one way of avoiding incompatibilities.
*Finally, you can skimp on the monitor. Anything will do since you won't be workstationing there.
Also, if you can bring your support people in on the purchasing decision it will be a nice gesture and a good way of anticipating problems.
In terms of the free tools, some of the nicest ones are I think still under construction at Texas. I don't think they have publicly released them yet, but you could take a sneak peak and try out what they have at http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/criticaltools/
I also have some tools that are a bit more buggy with fewer management features but free to use at http://sites.unc.edu/tools/distribution/index.html
You can also browse toward lots of other tools and packages at an index site I have set up at http://sites.unc.edu/tools
Good luck and let me know if I can be of more help. Daniel.