Date: Thu, 21 Nov 1996 00:54:47 -0800 From: "Michael L. VanLoon -- HeadCandy.com" <michaelv@MindBender.serv.net> To: "John S. Dyson" <toor@dyson.iquest.net> Cc: chuckr@Glue.umd.edu (Chuck Robey), dyson@freebsd.org, peter@spinner.dialix.com, smp@csn.net, ccsanady@friley216.res.iastate.edu, freebsd-smp@freebsd.org Subject: Re: vm_page_alloc(ZERO): missing pages... Message-ID: <199611210854.AAA04380@MindBender.serv.net> In-Reply-To: Your message of Wed, 20 Nov 96 23:43:18 -0500. <199611210443.XAA03187@dyson.iquest.net>
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>> > > If you get the SuperMicro running smp, I'd like to know. The only reason
>> > > I didn't buy that board was because Michael Van Loon reported trouble
>> > > trying to get it to run smp. It has an on-board scsi controller which I
>> > > REALLY liked, but I couldn't take a chance with that much cash. If it
>> > > does work, I think it''s only be fair to tell folks, because it's an
>> > > excellent choice if it works. (price right, features right, right chipset
>> > > too.)
>> > My P6DNF doesn't have a scsi adaptor on board, or even a scsi bios. Sounds
>> > like you are talking about Micronics or AIR?
>> Darn, I must have gotten it confused with another, I thought the
>> SuperMicro was the one with the SCSI. Sorry, I guess. Michael did report
>> what I said, but I must have thought for some reason it had a scsi
>> interface.
>Oh, well -- it is supposed to work really well on NT (per various anecdotal
>evidence)... I assume that Michael VanLoon had problems with NT on his board?
Actually, I didn't have problems with SMP -- I had problems with
*everything*. Basically, the thing wouldn't run anything but DOS
without crashing badly. A replacement board worked just as badly.
They sent me a single-CPU Asus (P6NP5) the third time, and it have
been working beautifully ever since (running NetBSD for the first 72
hours, running benchmarks, make worlds, etc. the entire time), and NT
and Descent II ever since. :-)
Other people told me they had SuperMicro P6DNF and P6SNF boards
working with *BSD. I had to conclude from this (and from other people
with other reports about SuperMicro) that their quality control must
just suck. If you get a good board, it will probably be a good board
as long as you own it. However, I obviously got two bad boards in a
row.
For the record, it was a P6DNF with one 200MHz CPU. This board does
not contain an on-board SCSI controller. It is a full-size board with
eight full slots (not shared), four PCI, and has eight SIMM sockets.
Unfortunately, the Asus doesn't have all the gee-whiz features of the
SuperMicro. But, I'm still quite happy with it -- it has been as
absolutely rock solid as I have come to expect from Asus.
For what it's worth, I also determined that you should avoid doing
business with Aberdeen. They are nice, friendly people, and they
really seem to be well-meaning. But, it took them more then two
weeks, with repeated phone calls, to get a replacement board back from
them through RMA (both times). So, Aberdeen is probably nice if you
buy something that works the first time and never breaks. But beware
that their RMA department is a black hole.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael L. VanLoon michaelv@MindBender.serv.net
--< Free your mind and your machine -- NetBSD free un*x >--
NetBSD working ports: 386+PC, Mac 68k, Amiga, Atari 68k, HP300, Sun3,
Sun4/4c/4m, DEC MIPS, DEC Alpha, PC532, VAX, MVME68k, arm32...
NetBSD ports in progress: PICA, others...
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