crosspost is only a good idea when setting a follow-up2. Otherwise you
> yourself won't find the replies to your posting. Also, you're laying more
> stress on the news servers. Please keep this in mind for the future.
> Thanks.
>
> And >
> >> I want to use a PC to listen mp3-music. Therefore I have to buy a big
> >> harddisk. I use Linux and I want to turn off all harddisks while
> >> listening, because they are so noisy. My plan is to let some
> >> homegrown software copy the music data from a harddisk to a ramdisk
> >> and to turn off the harddisk then. Then I would listen from the
> >> ramdisk.
> >
> > If you turn on and off the hard drive every few minuties, you would
> > shorten the life of the drive substantially. The ram up and down
> > noise would probably be more annoying than a constant noise as well.
>
> I wouldn't recommend copying all data to the ramdisk as well. You most
> certainly won't have enough memory. Having the hard disk drive always spin
> up serves only one purpose: its destruction.
>
> > My suggestion is to nfs mount the mp3 files from a remote server (in
> > the garage?). You can run a flash drive based local pc via nfs.
> >
> > Mp3 needs approximately 100 MHz x86. However, old Pentium (5V) are
> > too hot to run without a fan.
>
> Only 60 and 66 MHz Pentium 1 have been running at 5V. Starting with Pentium
> 90 (and Pentium 75 as well), the cpus use 3,3V.
I could be wrong about this.
> > We use a 200 MHz Pentium MMX (3.3V)
> > underclocked to 100 MHz, without the CPU fan.
>
> Be aware that most Pentium MMX are multiplier-locked. You are lucky. The
> MMX core also uses split-voltage. The core is using 2,8/2.9Volts.
I am running my fanless mp3 player with a 200MHz MMX running at
100MHz.Chip IDs: A80503166 SL27K B7320070-1263 INTEL (c) 92'95'
It is definitely cooler at 100 MHz.
> > By not running a hard
> > drive and CPU fan, we can disconnect the power supply fan as well.
>
> However, this is not recommended and dangerous. In case of a fire, your
> insurance will find about it!
There are lots of power supplies (non PCs) running without a fan. The fan is needed in order to push the limit on the supply. If you are only using 20% of the rated capacity, there is no need for the fan. A 25 Watts (out of 150 Watts) power supply is actually cool to be touched and quite safe, according to my offical finger test.
By the way, I have been running fan-less systems for 2 to 3 years. I have not started any fire yet.
> > Using a Compact Flash drive, our mp3 player have absolutely zero
> > noise.
>
> using a CF flash drive is good idea. You might want to look at the opts for
> fli4l/EISFAIR.