Gretings,

I have some beginner questions about Renderfarms ...

1.  Does the render software need a 'fancey' video card? 

IOW, does the rendering software use the graphics computing capabilities
of the video card or does the software operate from the CPU alone -- that
is to say, is the rendering performed independent of the video card? 

My apologies for asking such a basic question, but when I contact the
software companies (Bryce, etc.), I get answers saying that the render
software does use the video card, and also other answers that it does
not use the video card. 

1. If I undertake building a render farm, I would like to use Linux as the
   operating system on the nodes instead of Windoze -- which rendering
   software will run on Linux? 

Thanks in advance for any help. 

--
Martin

1. the cheapest video card you can get hold of - the rendering process is totally independent of the video card

2. I have a feeling that for Vue, you are going to need windows or a Mac - there isn't a rendercow version for Linux (unless you use WINE or something like that)

Thanks for your answer about video card -- that is encouraging. 

How much RAM should be installed on each render workstation
(rendercow)?

With Linux, it is possible to configure a diskless workstation (no HDD). 
Would a render workstation (with enough RAM) be able to operate
without an installed HDD ? 

I already have about 12 workstations that were configured as a SETI
farm -- that is, they were running the Berkeley SETI-at-home distributed
computing cient software. 

I expect that when my render farm has been configured, I will be offering
some free render time to Renderosity members for a few months. 
This will help me perform a system test, test my automated submission
interface, measure the overall performance, and do a general shakedown
and reliability test. 

--
Martin

It would probably need an HDD to download the scene file for rendering - RAM wise, 2Gb or so I'd guess.

You might have problems offering a rendering service - a lot of people use protected content which you'd need a copy of (or some sort of arrangement with Cornucopia I suppose - I'm not too sure on the details)