Cosmic-Wizard
Member
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2013
- Messages
- 12
Hi everyone. I thought I'd post some pics and a bit of info on my Netserver LX Pro. I know it's not as old as some of the Mainframes on here, but it's big and it's noisy.
I bought this machine back in 2002/3 while at college - the lecturer kept it beside his desk. He had a few computers for sale that he'd built/refurbished but I wasn't interested in any of those. I asked him if the Netserver was for sale and he replied, "Well it might be. Why would you want something that big?" By this time the rest of the class had gathered round to have a look.
I should explain at this point that I love old machinery, whether it's a tool like a lathe, or a computer. I love the old Mainframes of the 60's & 70's and I would love to own one. As I said, being born in 1996, my Netserver is a youngster, but it's my bit of Server history, plus it's actually now quite rare here in the U.K.
Anyway, back to the story. A deal was struck with my lecturer for £250 and I collected the newly named Big Bertha later that week. He had already done some upgrading which included 6x 18.2Gb and 6x 9.1Gb SCSI hard disks, but it was only running with dual Pentium Pro 200 CPUs and 256Mb of RAM. There were also some parts missing like manuals, a side trim and front and rear skirts which cover the castors.
I managed to find a few parts on eBay, but externally the machine looked the same - bits missing and tired. One day while searching eBay I found a new old stock LXe Pro for sale in Essex. I couldn't believe my luck, I had to have it. Those were the longest 7 days of my life lol. The next worry was how much it may go for if the bidding went crazy. Well, I did have to bid for it, but I won it for the grand total of £1.20, yes, £1.20 :D
The LXe Pro is basically the same machine, but not as high spec as the LX Pro, so the chassis and panelwork is all the same - result!
Once I got the new machine home, the stripdown and rebuild of Big Bertha commenced. Unfortunately I didn't take lots of photos, I was too excited lol. Wish I had taken one of the machine in it's box though
Big Bertha still sits in the corner of my bedroom protected by a cover which is actually a fleece throw. Occasionally I'll fire her up for a play or to back up some files, but she is very noisy and does pull some juice courtesy of 3x hot-swap 750w PSUs.
The spec of Bertha when I bought her was:
2x Pentium Pro 200 CPUs
256Mb RAM
Mylex RAID controller
6x 9.1Gb & 6x 18.2Gb hot-swap SCSI hard disks
Spec now:
4x Pentium Pro 200 CPUs
1.5Gb RAM (still looking for the last 500Mb to make 2Gb)
HP MegaRAID controller
12x 36Gb hot-swap SCSI hard disks (was a small challenge, was never meant to run this size of disk)
15Gb IDE hard disk in Data Express hot-swap caddy
HP SureStore DAT8 Tape drive
ATI Rage PCI graphics card.
Time for some pics (before rebuild)
Some pics mid-rebuld
As Big Bertha is now
Hope you enjoyed the read and pics.
Cheers
Jim :D
I bought this machine back in 2002/3 while at college - the lecturer kept it beside his desk. He had a few computers for sale that he'd built/refurbished but I wasn't interested in any of those. I asked him if the Netserver was for sale and he replied, "Well it might be. Why would you want something that big?" By this time the rest of the class had gathered round to have a look.
I should explain at this point that I love old machinery, whether it's a tool like a lathe, or a computer. I love the old Mainframes of the 60's & 70's and I would love to own one. As I said, being born in 1996, my Netserver is a youngster, but it's my bit of Server history, plus it's actually now quite rare here in the U.K.
Anyway, back to the story. A deal was struck with my lecturer for £250 and I collected the newly named Big Bertha later that week. He had already done some upgrading which included 6x 18.2Gb and 6x 9.1Gb SCSI hard disks, but it was only running with dual Pentium Pro 200 CPUs and 256Mb of RAM. There were also some parts missing like manuals, a side trim and front and rear skirts which cover the castors.
I managed to find a few parts on eBay, but externally the machine looked the same - bits missing and tired. One day while searching eBay I found a new old stock LXe Pro for sale in Essex. I couldn't believe my luck, I had to have it. Those were the longest 7 days of my life lol. The next worry was how much it may go for if the bidding went crazy. Well, I did have to bid for it, but I won it for the grand total of £1.20, yes, £1.20 :D
The LXe Pro is basically the same machine, but not as high spec as the LX Pro, so the chassis and panelwork is all the same - result!
Once I got the new machine home, the stripdown and rebuild of Big Bertha commenced. Unfortunately I didn't take lots of photos, I was too excited lol. Wish I had taken one of the machine in it's box though
Big Bertha still sits in the corner of my bedroom protected by a cover which is actually a fleece throw. Occasionally I'll fire her up for a play or to back up some files, but she is very noisy and does pull some juice courtesy of 3x hot-swap 750w PSUs.
The spec of Bertha when I bought her was:
2x Pentium Pro 200 CPUs
256Mb RAM
Mylex RAID controller
6x 9.1Gb & 6x 18.2Gb hot-swap SCSI hard disks
Spec now:
4x Pentium Pro 200 CPUs
1.5Gb RAM (still looking for the last 500Mb to make 2Gb)
HP MegaRAID controller
12x 36Gb hot-swap SCSI hard disks (was a small challenge, was never meant to run this size of disk)
15Gb IDE hard disk in Data Express hot-swap caddy
HP SureStore DAT8 Tape drive
ATI Rage PCI graphics card.
Time for some pics (before rebuild)
Some pics mid-rebuld
As Big Bertha is now
Hope you enjoyed the read and pics.
Cheers
Jim :D
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