new server, and LinuxBIOS

So I’ve ordered parts for a new server, and half of them got here today. It’ll be a nice machine – Tyan S2881-based, Opteron 265, 2GB of ECC ram, 2x 74GB WD Raptors and 2x 320GB Seagate drives.

And if I can get one last thing solved, it’s going to be running LinuxBIOS. All I need is fan control – everything else works just fine. The problem is that the ACPI support is not complete for the S2881. That’s not really a problem for a server, except that I can’t control the fan speed – they come on at full speed on boot, and I’m worried they will wear out more quickly. Hopefully the folks on the LinuxBIOS list can help with the fan control…

This box, by the way, will be hosted on a nice fast pipe in what must be *the* best connected building in New England: the Markley Group’s facility in downtown Boston at 1 Summer St. We went on a tour a few weeks back, and it was really impressive – pretty much every provider that matters around here has bandwidth and/or rackspace there – with the unfortunate exception of SpeakEasy, the only DSL provider with sane, permissive policies and support that actually understands things like ‘traceroute’.

I hope I can get things installed before I leave for Switzerland next week!