Even though it involves money here's a recommended supplier of spare parts
for the PE6850 in case you need to replace a failing part or upgrade let's
say the CPU or HDDs:
https://www.serversupply.com/SYSTEM/DELL/Poweredge%206850/
Here's an overview of available FW for the PE6850:
http://poweredgec.dell.com/latest_poweredge-8g.html

On Tue, Dec 12, 2017 at 12:06 AM, Wes Will <[email protected]> wrote:

> <SEVERAL LIST MEMBERS, OFF-LIST> wrote something like:
>
> > A 6850?  Get something 9G or newer!!
>
> I'm guessing that "FREE" didn't register here.  Allow me to elucidate.
>
> I run network services for non-profits and civic groups and random
> weirdos - from some wood-working hobbyists in the Susquehanna Valley to
> a guy in Australia who scans "New Scientist" magazines for his archives,
> stores them on my disk array, and tries to promote discussions of
> science among some of our mutual friends, to a group of Girl Guides and
> their leaders in the London metro (yes, London, UK) area.  (No I am NOT
> joking here.  Girl Guides.  Brownies, to be specific.  In England.
> They're some of my favourite users.)  And others.
>
> I'm an Aulde Pharte; nearly ten years retired.  Retired Geek, from a
> middlin'-large mid-western university where I did IT stuff - networking,
> Tier-3 server tech support, and taught the occasional herd of under-grads.
>
> In Illinois.
>
> Which if you're watching politics the last few years you might have
> noticed "retirement," "state budget," and "Illinois," having little to
> do with, "SOLVENT."  Or even "SANITY."
>
> What with the bloviating moron we have instead of a governor, and the
> idiots we're stuck with instead of a state legislature (don't even get
> me started on the federal level), I'm lucky not to be selling pencils or
> apples on the street.  Or just starving / freezing to death.  My
> "pension" is better described as a "pittance."
>
> I didn't go in for making piles of wonga when I was young, so now that
> I'm old I'm wonga-deficient.  But mostly happy and not all that stressed
> most of the time, so I consider it a wash.
>
> I keep a server going so I can at least pretend that I'm not falling
> totally out of touch with the IT industry.
>
> I got this Gen-8 monster for free.  As in "Absolutely No Money."
>
> I've got nothing in it but some sweat and time, which are both to be had
> cheaply these days.  I'm using free, open-source, software (FOSS) for a
> reason, and the main reason is "FREE."  Price IS a consideration here.
> No "paid support."  No "contracts."  No software "budget."
>
> Either I figure it out, often with the help of kind strangers on mailing
> lists, or it just doesn't get done.  There is no hiring of help for
> this, unless they take cookies in payment.
>
> I get some random, small assistance on the power bill; the non-profits
> have been known to toss me a bit of coin ("BitCoin"?  Yeah, don't I
> wish.) on occasion, as recompense for not being billed for all the admin
> time, space, and bandwidth they use.  But that is all, and it is quite
> sporadic.  Power is my largest outlay here, but luckily it's not that
> much, really.  We don't use much power anywhere in the rest of the
> house, so the server rack isn't a big financial drain.
>
> If a thing costs real money, and I can't work out the price "in kind,"
> as labour, or pumpkin pies, plowing, bush-hogging, or garden tilling,
> whatever, I mostly don't get that thing.
>
> (Yeah, we're in the back woods of the boon-docks here.  Barter is the
> rule when possible.  "Rural" doesn't even come close.  We-All Be Po'
> Folk.  But it's quiet, and the air is clean.  So far, anyway.  Ask me
> next year if it's still so.)
>
> Therefore, unless you know where there's a gen-9 or newer box about to
> be crushed and dumpstered, within driving distance of the tail-end of
> nowhere in the south end of Illinois, I'm kind of stuck getting this
> behemoth going before the even-older machine (dual 600 MHz P-III's, if
> that gives you any idea of the state of things) decides to go belly-up.
>
> Even as out-of-date as it is, I suspect this box will give me more bang
> for the kilowatt-hour than the even-older one it will be replacing.....
>
> IF I can get it running.
>
> I do appreciate the responses, on- and off- list, and the spirit in
> which they were intended.  But almost every suggestion involved the
> outlay of cash which doesn't exist in my universe, so we're back to the
> original question.
>
> Thus far, RHEL 5 or 6 seems to be the route to go.  A couple of Debian
> suggestions, which will be considered and tried out, but the RedHat
> offering seems to be the one most recommended.  I'll be looking for the
> archive of 'antiquated junk' and retrieve an image tonight, if I can
> find it.
>
> Thanks, y'all.
>
> --
> Wes Will
> N9KDY
>
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>



-- 
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