From owner-freebsd-hardware Sun Nov 12 13:23:14 1995 Return-Path: owner-hardware Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.6.12/8.6.6) id NAA15301 for hardware-outgoing; Sun, 12 Nov 1995 13:23:14 -0800 Received: from s1.GANet.NET (s1.GANet.NET [199.18.201.2]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.6.12/8.6.6) with ESMTP id NAA15221 for ; Sun, 12 Nov 1995 13:23:05 -0800 Received: (from ec0@localhost) by s1.GANet.NET (8.6.11/8.6.11) id QAA24078; Sun, 12 Nov 1995 16:22:29 -0500 From: Eric Chet Message-Id: <199511122122.QAA24078@s1.GANet.NET> Subject: Moving from a NCR 53c810 to a 53c825 SCSI controller To: freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org Date: Sun, 12 Nov 1995 16:22:29 -0500 (EST) Cc: se@MI.Uni-Koeln.DE X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL24] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Length: 4359 Sender: owner-hardware@freebsd.org Precedence: bulk Hello I have FreeBSD installed on a ASUS-SP3G mainboard system. I have been using this system for about a year now with out any problems. I'm going to slowly upgrade. I purchased a TYAN SCSI controller, which uses the NCR 53c825 chip. The controller has a internal/external SCSI-II FAST bus and a internal SCSI-II FAST/WIDE bus. I should have my Micropolis 3243W drive in two weeks. I wanted to test the controller with my current drives. I disabled the onboard controller and installed the 53c825. This is my old dmesg: --------------------- FreeBSD 2.1.0-951104-SNAP #0: Sun Nov 12 09:22:24 EST 1995 ejc@gargoyle.bazzle.net:/usr/src/sys/compile/gargoyle CPU: i486 DX2 (486-class CPU) Origin = "GenuineIntel" Id = 0x435 Stepping=5 Features=0x3 real memory = 8388608 (8192K bytes) avail memory = 6828032 (6668K bytes) Probing for devices on the ISA bus: sc0 at 0x60-0x6f irq 1 on motherboard sc0: VGA color <16 virtual consoles, flags=0x0> sio0 at 0x3f8-0x3ff irq 4 on isa sio0: type 16550A sio1 at 0x2f8-0x2ff irq 3 on isa sio1: type 16550A lpt0 at 0x378-0x37f irq 7 on isa lpt0: Interrupt-driven port lp0: TCP/IP capable interface fdc0 at 0x3f0-0x3f7 irq 6 drq 2 on isa fdc0: NEC 72065B fd0: 1.44MB 3.5in npx0 on motherboard npx0: INT 16 interface Probing for devices on the PCI bus: chip0 rev 4 on pci0:0 ncr0 rev 1 int a irq 9 on pci0:1 ncr0 waiting for scsi devices to settle (ncr0:0:0): "QUANTUM LP240S GM240S01X 6.4" type 0 fixed SCSI 2 sd0(ncr0:0:0): Direct-Access sd0(ncr0:0:0): FAST SCSI-2 100ns (10 Mb/sec) offset 8. 234MB (479350 512 byte sectors) (ncr0:1:0): "QUANTUM LP52S 950509405 2.8" type 0 fixed SCSI 2 sd1(ncr0:1:0): Direct-Access sd1(ncr0:1:0): 250ns (4 Mb/sec) offset 8. 49MB (102171 512 byte sectors) (ncr0:2:0): "PLEXTOR CD-ROM DM-XX28 3.08" type 5 removable SCSI 2 cd0(ncr0:2:0): CD-ROM cd0(ncr0:2:0): asynchronous. cd present.[201408 x 2048 byte records] chip1 rev 3 on pci0:2 ncr1 rev 2 int a irq 11 on pci0:5 ncr1 waiting for scsi devices to settle vga0 rev 1 on pci0:6 This is what I get when I disable the onboard scsi and use the 825 ------------------------------------------------------------------ FreeBSD 2.1.0-951104-SNAP #0: Sun Nov 12 09:22:24 EST 1995 ejc@gargoyle.bazzle.net:/usr/src/sys/compile/gargoyle CPU: i486 DX2 (486-class CPU) Origin = "GenuineIntel" Id = 0x435 Stepping=5 Features=0x3 real memory = 8388608 (8192K bytes) avail memory = 6828032 (6668K bytes) Probing for devices on the ISA bus: sc0 at 0x60-0x6f irq 1 on motherboard sc0: VGA color <16 virtual consoles, flags=0x0> sio0 at 0x3f8-0x3ff irq 4 on isa sio0: type 16550A sio1 at 0x2f8-0x2ff irq 3 on isa sio1: type 16550A lpt0 at 0x378-0x37f irq 7 on isa lpt0: Interrupt-driven port lp0: TCP/IP capable interface fdc0 at 0x3f0-0x3f7 irq 6 drq 2 on isa fdc0: NEC 72065B fd0: 1.44MB 3.5in npx0 on motherboard npx0: INT 16 interface Probing for devices on the PCI bus: chip0 rev 4 on pci0:0 ncr0 rev 2 int a irq 11 on pci0:5 ncr0 waiting for scsi devices to settle (ncr0:0:0): "QUANTUM LP240S GM240S01X 6.4" type 0 fixed SCSI 2 sd0(ncr0:0:0): Direct-Access sd0(ncr0:0:0): FAST SCSI-2 100ns (10 Mb/sec) offset 8. 234MB (479350 512 byte sectors) (ncr0:1:0): "QUANTUM LP52S 950509405 2.8" type 0 fixed SCSI 2 sd1(ncr0:1:0): Direct-Access sd1(ncr0:1:0): 250ns (4 Mb/sec) offset 8. 49MB (102171 512 byte sectors) (ncr0:2:0): "PLEXTOR CD-ROM DM-XX28 3.08" type 5 removable SCSI 2 cd0(ncr0:2:0): CD-ROM cd0(ncr0:2:0): asynchronous. cd present.[201408 x 2048 byte records] chip1 rev 3 on pci0:2 vga0 rev 1 on pci0:6 ncr0: aborting job ncr0:0: ERROR (90:0) (0-0-ff00) (8/13) (c8c:50000000) script cmd = 740a8700 reg da 00 00 13 47 08 00 0f 35 08 00 00 80 00 07 0b --------------------------------------------------- This repeats four times with simular numbers. It then says it can't mount root and reboots. Are not the 810 and 825 compatable with each other. Does anybody have any ideas on this? BTW: I want to say thank you to everybody who worked on FreeBSD 2.1 is great. Thanks, ejc ejc@nasvr1.cb.att.com From owner-freebsd-hardware Sun Nov 12 18:53:41 1995 Return-Path: owner-hardware Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.6.12/8.6.6) id SAA01610 for hardware-outgoing; Sun, 12 Nov 1995 18:53:41 -0800 Received: from genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au (genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au [129.127.96.120]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.6.12/8.6.6) with ESMTP id SAA01593 for ; Sun, 12 Nov 1995 18:53:33 -0800 Received: from msmith@localhost by genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au (8.6.12/8.6.9) id CAA19228 for hardware@freebsd.org; Mon, 13 Nov 1995 02:51:42 GMT From: Michael Smith Message-Id: <199511130251.CAA19228@genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au> Subject: WD ethernet probe problem 8( To: hardware@freebsd.org Date: Mon, 13 Nov 1995 02:51:42 +0000 () MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Length: 845 Sender: owner-hardware@freebsd.org Precedence: bulk Hiho, after all the talk around the traps a while back about the problems people were having with probing of WD-alike cards, now I need the info and don't have the patch 8( The card's a Compex ENET16 combo, and it shows up as a WD8003 8( I've rummaged the mailing list archives, but come up blank, which probably says more about my inability to remember keywords from the conversation than anything else. (The list search page has been updated - great stuff!) -- ]] Mike Smith, Software Engineer msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au [[ ]] Genesis Software genesis@atrad.adelaide.edu.au [[ ]] High-speed data acquisition and (GSM mobile) 041-122-496 [[ ]] realtime instrument control (ph/fax) +61-8-267-3039 [[ ]] My car has "demand start" -Terry Lambert UNIX: live FreeBSD or die! [[ From owner-freebsd-hardware Mon Nov 13 09:43:56 1995 Return-Path: owner-hardware Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.6.12/8.6.6) id JAA14527 for hardware-outgoing; Mon, 13 Nov 1995 09:43:56 -0800 Received: from Sysiphos (Sysiphos.MI.Uni-Koeln.DE [134.95.212.10]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.6.12/8.6.6) with SMTP id JAA14512 for ; Mon, 13 Nov 1995 09:43:41 -0800 Received: by Sysiphos id AA28662 (5.67b/IDA-1.5); Mon, 13 Nov 1995 17:11:46 +0100 Message-Id: <199511131611.AA28662@Sysiphos> From: se@zpr.uni-koeln.de (Stefan Esser) Date: Mon, 13 Nov 1995 17:11:45 +0100 In-Reply-To: Eric Chet "Moving from a NCR 53c810 to a 53c825 SCSI controller" (Nov 12, 16:22) X-Mailer: Mail User's Shell (7.2.6 alpha(2) 7/9/95) To: Eric Chet Subject: Re: Moving from a NCR 53c810 to a 53c825 SCSI controller Cc: freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org Sender: owner-hardware@freebsd.org Precedence: bulk On Nov 12, 16:22, Eric Chet wrote: } Subject: Moving from a NCR 53c810 to a 53c825 SCSI controller } Hello } } I have FreeBSD installed on a ASUS-SP3G mainboard system. I have } been using this system for about a year now with out any problems. I'm } going to slowly upgrade. I purchased a TYAN SCSI controller, which uses } the NCR 53c825 chip. The controller has a internal/external SCSI-II FAST } bus and a internal SCSI-II FAST/WIDE bus. I should have my Micropolis } 3243W drive in two weeks. I wanted to test the controller with my current } drives. I disabled the onboard controller and installed the 53c825. Well, the NCR driver falls into my area of responsibility ... Let's see: } ncr0 rev 2 int a irq 11 on pci0:5 } ncr0 waiting for scsi devices to settle } (ncr0:0:0): "QUANTUM LP240S GM240S01X 6.4" type 0 fixed SCSI 2 } sd0(ncr0:0:0): Direct-Access } sd0(ncr0:0:0): FAST SCSI-2 100ns (10 Mb/sec) offset 8. } 234MB (479350 512 byte sectors) } (ncr0:1:0): "QUANTUM LP52S 950509405 2.8" type 0 fixed SCSI 2 } sd1(ncr0:1:0): Direct-Access } sd1(ncr0:1:0): 250ns (4 Mb/sec) offset 8. } 49MB (102171 512 byte sectors) } (ncr0:2:0): "PLEXTOR CD-ROM DM-XX28 3.08" type 5 removable SCSI 2 } cd0(ncr0:2:0): CD-ROM } cd0(ncr0:2:0): asynchronous. } cd present.[201408 x 2048 byte records] } chip1 rev 3 on pci0:2 } vga0 rev 1 on pci0:6 } } ncr0: aborting job } ncr0:0: ERROR (90:0) (0-0-ff00) (8/13) (c8c:50000000) } script cmd = 740a8700 } reg da 00 00 13 47 08 00 0f 35 08 00 00 80 00 07 0b This looks VERY wrong. The NCR driver seems to hang in the reselect code. Could you please reboot with "-v" entered at the boot prompt, and send me the boot message log ? I'll look into this as soon as I find the time. Regards, STefan -- Stefan Esser, Zentrum fuer Paralleles Rechnen Tel: +49 221 4706021 Universitaet zu Koeln, Weyertal 80, 50931 Koeln FAX: +49 221 4705160 ============================================================================== http://www.zpr.uni-koeln.de/~se From owner-freebsd-hardware Mon Nov 13 17:56:16 1995 Return-Path: owner-hardware Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.6.12/8.6.6) id RAA11843 for hardware-outgoing; Mon, 13 Nov 1995 17:56:16 -0800 Received: from bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au (bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au [130.102.2.1]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.6.12/8.6.6) with SMTP id RAA11838 for ; Mon, 13 Nov 1995 17:56:13 -0800 Received: from cc.uq.oz.au by bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au id <00832-0@bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au>; Tue, 14 Nov 1995 11:55:21 +1000 Received: from netfl15a.devetir.qld.gov.au by pandora.devetir.qld.gov.au (8.6.10/DEVETIR-E0.3a) with ESMTP id LAA05684 for ; Tue, 14 Nov 1995 11:22:46 +1000 Received: from localhost by netfl15a.devetir.qld.gov.au (8.6.8.1/DEVETIR-0.1) id BAA05705 for ; Tue, 14 Nov 1995 01:21:24 GMT Message-Id: <199511140121.BAA05705@netfl15a.devetir.qld.gov.au> X-Mailer: exmh version 1.6.4 10/10/95 To: hardware@freebsd.org Subject: Power supplies and their vagaries X-Face: 3}heU+2?b->-GSF-G4T4>jEB9~FR(V9lo&o>kAy=Pj&;oVOc<|pr%I/VSG"ZD32J>5gGC0N 7gj]^GI@M:LlqNd]|(2OxOxy@$6@/!,";-!OlucF^=jq8s57$%qXd/ieC8DhWmIy@J1AcnvSGV\|*! >Bvu7+0h4zCY^]{AxXKsDTlgA2m]fX$W@'8ev-Qi+-;%L'CcZ'NBL!@n?}q!M&Em3*eW7,093nOeV8 M)(u+6D;%B7j\XA/9j4!Gj~&jYzflG[#)E9sI&Xe9~y~Gn%fA7>F:YKr"Wx4cZU*6{^2ocZ!YyR Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Date: Tue, 14 Nov 1995 11:21:24 +1000 From: Stephen Hocking Sender: owner-hardware@freebsd.org Precedence: bulk I have an old case with a 220w power supply with the following items being driven from it - 486dx2 mboard with 8Mb of ram, Barracuda 2Gb drive, Wangtek QIC 150Mb tape (QIC-02 controller, it was a cheapie), 2 fans (excluding the power supply fan) & a 3.5 floppy drive. I have learnt something valuable. Do not use those little power cable splitters on media devices (hard disks, tapes), especially when you share them with fans. Gives you all sorts of weird errors. I was bit by this once for the 2Gb drive, and again just now for the tape drive, which could not even tolerate sharing its cable with a mostly inactive floppy drive. I was about to send in a rather crisp bug report for the wangtek QIC-02 driver. Fortunately shuffling around the power cables appears to have solved the problem. Stephen -- I do not speak for the Worker's Compensation Board of Queensland - They don't pay me enough for that! From owner-freebsd-hardware Tue Nov 14 05:25:37 1995 Return-Path: owner-hardware Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.6.12/8.6.6) id FAA12217 for hardware-outgoing; Tue, 14 Nov 1995 05:25:37 -0800 Received: from relay5.UU.NET (relay5.UU.NET [192.48.96.15]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.6.12/8.6.6) with ESMTP id FAA12212 for ; Tue, 14 Nov 1995 05:25:33 -0800 Received: from uucp5.UU.NET by relay5.UU.NET with SMTP id QQzpuz06142; Tue, 14 Nov 1995 08:25:31 -0500 (EST) Received: from uanet.UUCP by uucp5.UU.NET with UUCP/RMAIL ; Tue, 14 Nov 1995 08:25:31 -0500 Received: by crocodil.monolit.kiev.ua; Tue, 14 Nov 95 15:23:34 +0200 Received: from bee.cs.kiev.ua (bee.cs.kiev.ua [193.124.54.45]) by clipper.cs.kiev.ua (8.6.4) with ESMTP id PAA13251 for ; Tue, 14 Nov 1995 15:18:12 +0200 Received: (from daemon@localhost) by bee.cs.kiev.ua (8.6.12/8.6.9) id PAA19131 for hardware@freebsd.org; Tue, 14 Nov 1995 15:18:11 +0200 Date: Tue, 14 Nov 1995 15:18:11 +0200 From: System Daemon Message-Id: <199511141318.PAA19131@bee.cs.kiev.ua> Apparently-To: hardware@freebsd.org Sender: owner-hardware@freebsd.org Precedence: bulk hi fellow FreeBSD'ers, I ask you about experience (good/bad) about 1G SCSI-2 drives. I have found one from Conner here for ~$280. Sounds attractive (most other drives are in the $350-$400 range), but I am not totally sure about its speed/reliability. any help/horror stories/advices are very well appreciated. thank you. -- The number you have dialed is imaginary. Please rotate your telephone ninety degrees and try again. From owner-freebsd-hardware Tue Nov 14 10:27:12 1995 Return-Path: owner-hardware Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.6.12/8.6.6) id KAA29778 for hardware-outgoing; Tue, 14 Nov 1995 10:27:12 -0800 Received: from ibp.ibp.fr (ibp.ibp.fr [132.227.60.30]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.6.12/8.6.6) with ESMTP id KAA29741 for ; Tue, 14 Nov 1995 10:26:51 -0800 Received: from blaise.ibp.fr (blaise.ibp.fr [132.227.60.1]) by ibp.ibp.fr (8.6.12/jtpda-5.0) with ESMTP id TAA19540 ; Tue, 14 Nov 1995 19:26:41 +0100 Received: from (uucp@localhost) by blaise.ibp.fr (8.6.12/jtpda-5.0) with UUCP id TAA28400 ; Tue, 14 Nov 1995 19:26:41 +0100 Received: (from roberto@localhost) by keltia.freenix.fr (8.7.1/keltia-uucp-2.6) id TAA07897; Tue, 14 Nov 1995 19:25:02 +0100 (MET) From: Ollivier Robert Message-Id: <199511141825.TAA07897@keltia.freenix.fr> Subject: Re: your mail To: daemon@bee.cs.kiev.ua (System Daemon) Date: Tue, 14 Nov 1995 19:25:01 +0100 (MET) Cc: hardware@freebsd.org (Hardware Mailing list) In-Reply-To: <199511141318.PAA19131@bee.cs.kiev.ua> from "System Daemon" at Nov 14, 95 03:18:11 pm X-Operating-System: FreeBSD 2.2-CURRENT ctm#1327 X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL24 ME8b] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-hardware@freebsd.org Precedence: bulk It seems that System Daemon said: > I ask you about experience (good/bad) about 1G SCSI-2 drives. > I have found one from Conner here for ~$280. Sounds attractive > (most other drives are in the $350-$400 range), but I am not > totally sure about its speed/reliability. Some friends and I have tested several: - Micropolis: bad things overall. At least three failed recently and a 9 GB too. We think that recent Micropolis drives are not reliable anymore which is a pity. I have an old 1624 (640 MB) which 3 yrs old and is working perfectly albeit hotly :-) - Conner: I have a 1080S and I'm very happy with it. Avoid the 1060S if you don't want to upgrade the firmware. Some series have a bug which appear with fast drivers like NCR and Aha-2940. The 1080S is a fast drive. - Seagate: I have a Hawk ST-31200N and I'm very happy too. I don't know the new models (31230N). The 31200N is a little slower then the Conner. - IBM: three friends brought a very recent IBM drive (not the 662 which is at least 2 yrs old and very hot) and they seem very happy. It has not been long enough to see if they will be reliable but they works fine for now. - Quantum: avoid the Fireball series, it is a old drive repackaged with a lower MTBF and a shorted warranty (3 yrs / 5 usual ones @ Quantum). I think the Capella are good ones but I have not tested them. Rod will probably give even more information as he tends to test every drive out there :-) -- Ollivier ROBERT -=- The daemon is FREE! -=- roberto@keltia.frmug.fr.net FreeBSD keltia.freenix.fr 2.2-CURRENT #1: Sun Nov 12 16:47:05 MET 1995 From owner-freebsd-hardware Tue Nov 14 14:11:53 1995 Return-Path: owner-hardware Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.6.12/8.6.6) id OAA17228 for hardware-outgoing; Tue, 14 Nov 1995 14:11:53 -0800 Received: from sivka.carrier.kiev.ua (sivka.carrier.kiev.ua [193.125.68.130]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.6.12/8.6.6) with ESMTP id OAA16931 for ; Tue, 14 Nov 1995 14:05:42 -0800 Received: from elvisti.kiev.ua (uucp@localhost) by sivka.carrier.kiev.ua (Sendmail 8.who.cares/5) with UUCP id AAA08464 for hardware@freebsd.org; Wed, 15 Nov 1995 00:06:12 +0200 Received: from office.elvisti.kiev.ua (office.elvisti.kiev.ua [193.125.28.33]) by spider2.elvisti.kiev.ua (8.6.12/8.ElVisti) with ESMTP id XAA00704 for ; Tue, 14 Nov 1995 23:58:07 +0200 Received: (from stesin@localhost) by office.elvisti.kiev.ua (8.6.12/8.ElVisti) id XAA20492; Tue, 14 Nov 1995 23:58:05 +0200 From: "Andrew V. Stesin" Message-Id: <199511142158.XAA20492@office.elvisti.kiev.ua> Subject: About Conner and IBM SCSI HDDs (was: Re: your mail To: roberto@keltia.freenix.fr (Ollivier Robert) Date: Tue, 14 Nov 1995 23:58:05 +0200 (EET) Cc: hardware@freebsd.org In-Reply-To: <199511141825.TAA07897@keltia.freenix.fr> from "Ollivier Robert" at Nov 14, 95 07:25:01 pm X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL24alpha5] Content-Type: text Content-Length: 2282 Sender: owner-hardware@freebsd.org Precedence: bulk Hello Ollivier, # - Conner: I have a 1080S and I'm very happy with it. Avoid the 1060S if you # don't want to upgrade the firmware. Some series have a bug which appear # with fast drivers like NCR and Aha-2940. The 1080S is a fast drive. What you say about 1060S is no longer true. 1060S are shipped with a good firmvare at least for some months. They do not need any upgrade and works good as I can see (comparatively fast; no errors or failures yet), but a bit noisy. There is another caveat with 1060Ss. Recently I've seen a party of 1060Ss that are made in a strange fashion: they have 80-pin connector on the drive and an extra interface part which converts 80-pin to a "usual" 50-pin SCSI interface. The part has jumpers on it for setting SCSI ID. As I was told by mr. Behrens (his e-mail is he's VERY helpful in case of any tech. adventures with Conners and he helped me three times!) theese drives are actually 1060E-s shipped as 1060S-s. The wrong thing was that _this_ party of drives was equipped with an interface part (I have it's specs, and exact name) with terminators (resistor packs) _soldered_ into it and there isn't any way to disable termination on it except of a) mechanically remove the resistor packs, or b) call Conner for a replacement part with socketed terminators. I was proposed to do b) by Soenke Behrens, but I think we'll simply snap the terminators off when needed -- replacement will take a nice bit of time. So: people, my opinion is that Conner 1060S and 1080S are good, but _be careful_! # - IBM: three friends brought a very recent IBM drive (not the 662 which is # at least 2 yrs old and very hot) and they seem very happy. It has not # been long enough to see if they will be reliable but they works fine for # now. I've tested two IBM DPES-31080's (1.08Gb) for a while. They are quite as fast as Conners (only a bit slower, under FreeBSD 2.0.5 and NCR 53c810) and _much_ less noisy. They are less hot, too. I know at least two Nowell installations working with this drives for 6 months without any trouble yet. -- With best regards -- Andrew Stesin. +380 (44) 2760188 +380 (44) 2713457 +380 (44) 2713560 An undocumented feature is a coding error. From owner-freebsd-hardware Wed Nov 15 08:05:24 1995 Return-Path: owner-hardware Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.6.12/8.6.6) id IAA15043 for hardware-outgoing; Wed, 15 Nov 1995 08:05:24 -0800 Received: from mail.ruhrgebiet.individual.net (in-ruhr.ruhr.de [193.100.176.38]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.6.12/8.6.6) with ESMTP id IAA14981 for ; Wed, 15 Nov 1995 08:05:00 -0800 Received: from robkaos.UUCP (admin@localhost) by mail.ruhrgebiet.individual.net (8.7.1/8.7.1) with UUCP id QAA21988 for freebsd.org!hardware; Wed, 15 Nov 1995 16:13:40 +0100 (MET) Received: by robkaos.ruhr.de (/\oo/\ Smail3.1.29.1 #29.1) id ; Wed, 15 Nov 95 16:14 MET Message-Id: From: robsch@robkaos.ruhr.de (Robert Schien) Subject: Which graphics board should I buy? To: hardware@freebsd.org Date: Wed, 15 Nov 1995 16:14:36 -0700 (MET) X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL22] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-hardware@freebsd.org Precedence: bulk In the next few days I'm going to upgrade my system to a Pentium-120. The mb will be the famous tp4xei (with PB cache, but normal page mode SIMMs), but I'm not quite sure which graphics card to select. Currently I have the VLB version of miro chrystal, which works quite fine. What is a fast, reliable and not too expensive (let's say up to $250) board that works fine under XFree86? Thank you in advance for any hint. Robert From owner-freebsd-hardware Wed Nov 15 16:49:02 1995 Return-Path: owner-hardware Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.6.12/8.6.6) id QAA17667 for hardware-outgoing; Wed, 15 Nov 1995 16:49:02 -0800 Received: from pegasus.com (pegasus.com [140.174.243.13]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.6.12/8.6.6) with ESMTP id QAA17643 for ; Wed, 15 Nov 1995 16:48:52 -0800 Received: by pegasus.com (8.6.8/PEGASUS-2.2) id OAA09494; Wed, 15 Nov 1995 14:48:28 -1000 Date: Wed, 15 Nov 1995 14:48:28 -1000 From: richard@pegasus.com (Richard Foulk) Message-Id: <199511160048.OAA09494@pegasus.com> X-Mailer: Mail User's Shell (7.2.5 10/14/92) To: hardware@freebsd.org Subject: Ether card performance? Sender: owner-hardware@freebsd.org Precedence: bulk Is there a place to look for an Ethernet card performance comparison? Thanks Richard From owner-freebsd-hardware Wed Nov 15 17:54:41 1995 Return-Path: owner-hardware Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.6.12/8.6.6) id RAA25115 for hardware-outgoing; Wed, 15 Nov 1995 17:36:29 -0800 Received: from genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au (genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au [129.127.96.120]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.6.12/8.6.6) with ESMTP id RAA25105 for ; Wed, 15 Nov 1995 17:36:24 -0800 Received: from msmith@localhost by genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au (8.6.12/8.6.9) id BAA06556; Thu, 16 Nov 1995 01:30:31 GMT From: Michael Smith Message-Id: <199511160130.BAA06556@genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au> Subject: Re: Which graphics board should I buy? To: robsch@robkaos.ruhr.de (Robert Schien) Date: Thu, 16 Nov 1995 01:30:31 +0000 () Cc: hardware@FreeBSD.ORG In-Reply-To: from "Robert Schien" at Nov 15, 95 04:14:36 pm MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Length: 1510 Sender: owner-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk Robert Schien stands accused of saying: > Currently I have the VLB version of miro chrystal, > which works quite fine. > What is a fast, reliable and not too expensive (let's say > up to $250) board that works fine under XFree86? Anything with an S3 chip and preferably at least 2M of memory. For $115 Australian (about US$80) I can get a "Data Expert" S3-868 PCI card, which works _very_ well, and is no slouch at all. Other chips to look for are the 764 (ok), 732 (not so good), 864 (good but outdated), and anything beginning with 9 (928, 964, 968). The '9' chips use VRAM rather than DRAM, and thus cards using them are more expensive. You can spend more money and go for a Diamond or Number Nine card, but their low-end models aren't any better or worse. They _do_ have high-end hardware that is _much_ nicer. If you plan to run any version of Windows, however, then buy a Diamond or #9 card - their drivers are definitely worth the extra cash. Whatever you do, do _not_ buy a card based on the Trident or Tseng chipsets, and avoid the Cirrus "alpine" chips (Orchid cards) unless you're really desperate. > Robert -- ]] Mike Smith, Software Engineer msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au [[ ]] Genesis Software genesis@atrad.adelaide.edu.au [[ ]] High-speed data acquisition and (GSM mobile) 041-122-496 [[ ]] realtime instrument control (ph/fax) +61-8-267-3039 [[ ]] My car has "demand start" -Terry Lambert UNIX: live FreeBSD or die! [[ From owner-freebsd-hardware Thu Nov 16 06:09:14 1995 Return-Path: owner-hardware Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.6.12/8.6.6) id GAA19251 for hardware-outgoing; Thu, 16 Nov 1995 06:09:14 -0800 Received: from nomad.osmre.gov (nomad.osmre.gov [192.243.129.244]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.6.12/8.6.6) with ESMTP id GAA19246 for ; Thu, 16 Nov 1995 06:09:10 -0800 Received: (from gfoster@localhost) by nomad.osmre.gov (8.6.11/8.6.9) id JAA01733; Thu, 16 Nov 1995 09:08:58 -0500 Date: Thu, 16 Nov 1995 09:08:58 -0500 From: Glen Foster Message-Id: <199511161408.JAA01733@nomad.osmre.gov> To: hardware@FreeBSD.ORG In-reply-to: <199511160130.BAA06556@genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au> (message from Michael Smith on Thu, 16 Nov 1995 01:30:31 +0000 ()) Subject: Re: Which graphics board should I buy? Sender: owner-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk I have also had great success with S3-based boards although my experiences with Tseng boards does not seem to have been as bad as yours. For example the STB Lightning (W32P-based) is an adequate board. One board in particular to stay away from is the Hercules Dynamite series. These are hell to configure and exhibit very flakey behaviour when switching resolutions. It seems that hand-tuning mode lines (a real pain, I admit) has gone out of fashion. You will almost certainly achieve a better display if you do this for almost any board. The XFree86 home page, http://www.xfree86.org (what else?), has a fair amount of information on supported boards although they are careful not to make a recommendation. They also have links to various board vendors home pages so one can review specs., etc. > From: Michael Smith > Date: Thu, 16 Nov 1995 01:30:31 +0000 () > > Anything with an S3 chip and preferably at least 2M of memory. > > Whatever you do, do _not_ buy a card based on the Trident or Tseng chipsets, > and avoid the Cirrus "alpine" chips (Orchid cards) unless you're really > desperate.