Triage Reevaluation Project

Working Spec Categories discussed at 06/27/2012 meeting with Amelia, Sean, Lynnae and Aradan

Overall goals

• Upgrade Build specs
• Move to a function-driven model that allows us to build boxen to more specific use categories
• Provide straight-forward triaging processes for new volunteers
• Create better educational materials for Hardware ID and PreBuild
• Find well-informed technical strategies for determing specs and developing digital triaging methods
  • Ryan is currently helping us setup access to more specific Printme queries
  • Lynnae and Aradan are researching hardware history progressions to inform our spec change decisions and educational materials
  • Aradan is creating a giant spreadsheet with CPU and chipset information from the last 7-ish years. He wants to make this available via a database someday

Regular/Budget Category Specs

WAS: "Low spec" category determined only by number of processor cores and clock speed.

GOAL: Landing place for budget model processors, as well as low-voltage CPUs. This category is designed to:

• Provide low-cost machines for the store
• Build out remaining single core machines, though not exclusively
• Build out efficient boxen appropriate for small home or business media/file servers, available for the store and Hardware Grants (lots of storage space, etc). Other categories as determined

CPUs:

Intel:

• Pentium 4
• Celeron
• Pentium D
• Pentium Dual-Core (possibly. need to investigate further, may be Freekbox spec)
• Atom/Net-top stuff, (may need to weed out 32-bit Atom chips)

AMD:

• Sempron
• Athlon 64

Motherboard Requirements:

• Socket 775 or AM2
• DDR2 RAM slots (boards that support both DDR and DDR2 may be acceptable, needs further investigation)
• PCIe video slot (No AGP, should be covered by other two requirements, not entirely sure)

• Ensures 64-bit capabilities (in all but a few cases)
• Puts our auto-recycle date around 2005 for both AMD and Intel boxen
• Provides a category cut-off that can be easily identified by hardware

Other Characteristics:

• Small form-factor (smaller than just low-profile desktops
• If possible, steer 2GB max RAM Core 2 Duo systems to Regular category

Function-driven category ideas:

• Media/File Server
• Net-top/Thin client

Freekboxen

Take home boxen! Designed to be expandable, upgradable, and flexible; the "swiss army knife" of built systems, according to Radar. We are hoping to make many of our take home systems available from our pool of FGPDX grantboxen. This is the narrowest category, these systems are intended to be roughly uniform. Fancy cases, fancy peripherals, super small form-factor systems and the like will be redirected to other categories.

CPUs:

Intel:

• Core 2 Duo with clock speed up to approx 2.5 or 2.6GHz (to be determined)

AMD:

• Athlon X2

Motherboard Specs:

• DDR2 RAM
• Socket 775 and AM2

Other Criteria:=

• Standard ATX style cases, full-size OEM and half-height OEM ok (anything smaller goes to the Budget category)
• Possibly ensuring support of at least 4GB max RAM

High End and Enthusiast

Anything too fancy for the other categories. This is where we go nuts.

CPUs:

• Core 2 Duos above Freekbox spec clock speed (these are the really fancy chips with hecka features)
• Quad Core machines
• Any i3/5/7 series stuff
• Need to identify high-end AMD chips. We wont see many, probably.

Other Criteria:

• Anything that is too fancy for the Freekbox spec (could use some help brainstorming what kind of fancy is too fancy for Freekbox spec)

Things to Consider and Questions for Further Research

• HDD supply. What to do with IDE drives, and will we have adequate SATA drive supplies
• Do we have enough SATA optical drives?