I agree that running full-blown PC's remotely isn't an issue these days--just make certain to use high-quality hardware (particularly the power supply). I've also been running systems in hard to reach spots for years with very minimal headaches (knock on wood!). 73, David KB4FXC On Tue, 9 Apr 2013, Robert A. Poff WB3AWJ wrote:
I have to admit, when I first started looking at AllStar, the idea o f a computer running the re peater seemed a bit risky. Several decades of keeping things running on hilltops made me leery .
But now with my first node appro aching it's third (or is it fourth?) anniversary , I've realigned my stance.
In that time the only ti mes that I've ha d to make a n "emergency" run to th at si te is : 1. The repeater went dead in the middle of the day. When I go t to the site, I found that someone had turned the breaker off in the electrical distribution p anel. 2. Some dummy (me) wasn't paying at tention to which re mote console session he was on when he typed "poweroff <enter>".
I have had some problems though wi th one of the repeaters ( t wo seperate no des operating as a s plit site 10m repeate r), b ut that has turned out to be a hardware p roblem that I didn't catch before putting that computer into service.
Now I do ha ve each bo x exec ute a c ontrolled shutdown and re boot once a week in the wee hours of Sunday morning. And while I haven't been extravagant on the computer hardware, I haven't cut things to the bone . E ach of my boxes are at least a 3. 0 Ghz P4 with a gig or two of memory. (each bought on Ebay for about $7 5)
They sit th ere hour after hour, run ning the repeater, ID scri pts, weather al ert and observation scripts, on sche dule jumping between WAN -RS , Alaska Morning Net, and the Insomni ac net. R unning AR Newslin e Monday and Friday nights . And running other housekeeping scripts (rsync the custom nodename list, rs ync new versions of my scripts, and so on). Oh, and s ervicing a handful Asterisk extens i ons wi th attending IAX trunks bet ween the repeaters.
On the other hand, at work I have a fa irly expensive dedicated broadcast remote control (like a repeater "controller") on our TV translator about fif ty miles away , on top of a mountain w ith a nasty access road, that drives me NUTS!
WB3AWJ Robert A. Poff Loganville, PA. "Lieutenant, target the offending power boat and launch photon torpedoes"