Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 21:05:13 -0500 (EST) From: Wonko the Sane (Brian Hechinger) <wonko@users.tmok.com> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org, busy@primenet.com, jvanvleet@sei-it.com, msquires@sir-alan.chem.indiana.edu Subject: ALR 6x6 Message-ID: <199911190205.VAA47688@entropy.tmok.com>
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ok, i got three mails on this subject, so i'm going to group them all together. my original message: >> >>it holds 6 Pentium Pro CPUs, 4GB RAM, built in AIC-7880, blah blah blah >> >>anyone ever use one of these? does FreeBSD SMP handle >4 CPUs? >> >>i don't have a lot of info about this mobo, but i can get one for $55, is it >>worth it? (i want to build a multi-CPU PPro machine) >> >>thanks for all your help. >> >>-wonko > >Hi, > >I'm familiar with ALR's. I have two, one with two PPro 200's. Several >clients have them too. You're going to need the voltage regulator boards >that go with each of the cpu's. The only source I could find was ALR ick. >before they were converted to Gateway. I bought two cpu's from ALR last >year for $700 apiece. One word of warning, the cpu's are not marked with $700? ick. can i put just any PPro CPU on this thing? (they go for under $100 each these days) >the stepping number and on these boards, they must match or the smp process >goes haywire. hmm, is there an easy way to check the CPU stepping? (aside from plugging them in to find out they don't work?) >ALR's boards are very fast if you can populate them. excellent. >It wouldn't hurt to call Gateway at 1-800-444-4ALR (1-800-444-4257) and ask >about it. i think i'll do that. thanks for the number. >Regards, >Richard thanks richard. next email: > > First of all, http://www.vanvleet.net/alrbase.html has all the >information that I have collected about this system, including dmesg output. excellent page, i think you and i will be talking a lot. :) >I currently have it running with 4 CPUs with no troubles at all. Really a >great machine, but you may have to spend some time on the case and power >supply issues if you don't have access to one. It's running 3.3-RELEASE. I good, FreeBSD, no of that Linux Weenie crap. :) i've got a variety of old server cases laying around (old Sun3 hardware, etc, HUGE power supplies) and i should have no problem fitting it in the cases either (if all else fails i'm SURE it will fit in the VAX 11/750 case. *grin*) >hope to have a couple of CPUs in the next few weeks to see how 6 CPUs work, >but since the chipset was never supposed to support it, I'm putting the odds >at 50-50. i would be VERY interested to know how this turns out since this is what i'm really interested in. > Also, $55 is a great price if it includes all of the extra cards (CPU, >RAM, and keyboard). i don't think so, it may just be only the mainboard, i'll have to ask. >-James Van Vleet thanks James, like i said, i think we'll be talking a lot. >P.S. I don't know if this goes to the mailing list or not. If it doesn't, >please forward it there as I am not a subscriber. i'll do that for you. next email: [from Mike Squires who didn't sign or i cut by mistake] > >Be careful to get the riser cards - the motherboard by itself is not useful, >and I suspect that the power supply connections are not standard. as james pointed out the power supply connectors are all wacky. YEA!! >I've seen a note that says the 6-way motherboards use a hack to fool the >OS into thinking that it's a 4-way motherboard; however, at least one of >the vendors is giving away RedHat with the board. hmm, i'll try to talk to ALR/Gateway and see what i can come up with about this. thanks for all your help everybody. -wonko -- ps: someone asked about eBay, but i accidentally deleted that. yes, this is one of four boards as sold on eBay. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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