From owner-freebsd-questions Tue May 20 01:17:11 1997 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) id BAA22078 for questions-outgoing; Tue, 20 May 1997 01:17:11 -0700 (PDT) Received: from gatekeeper.barcode.co.il (gatekeeper.barcode.co.il [192.116.93.17]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id BAA22072 for ; Tue, 20 May 1997 01:17:05 -0700 (PDT) Received: (from smap@localhost) by gatekeeper.barcode.co.il (8.8.5/8.6.12) id LAA16522; Tue, 20 May 1997 11:16:28 +0300 (IDT) X-Authentication-Warning: gatekeeper.barcode.co.il: smap set sender to using -f Received: from localhost.barcode.co.il(127.0.0.1) by gatekeeper.barcode.co.il via smap (V1.3) id sma016520; Tue May 20 11:16:20 1997 Message-ID: <33815DA0.35CD@barcode.co.il> Date: Tue, 20 May 1997 11:15:28 +0300 From: Nadav Eiron X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.0 (X11; I; SunOS 5.5 sun4m) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Clinton Hogge CC: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: GW2000 Hardware Compatibility References: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-questions@FreeBSD.ORG X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk Clinton Hogge wrote: > > Hello all, > > I'm new to this list and to FreeBSD. My company has authorized the purchase > of a PC to run FreeBSD (alone) for various Internet services. I would > appreciate your feedback related to compatibility with the following > hardware so we can make a wise purchasing decision... > > -------- > Gateway 2000 G6-200/Pentium Pro 200 MHZ/128 MB Ram > 2 Gig Seagate SCSI with Adaptec 2940 adapter > SMC PCI 10/100 network card > Mitsumi 12x IDE CD-ROM > Internal Zip Drive (I assume it's IDE) > -------- > > I saw in the online docs that any SCSI drive should work with the supported > SCSI adapters (including the Adaptec 2940), and that the SMC card should > also work without troubles. Where I'm still confused, though, is with the > Gateway standard IDE CD-ROM and Zip Drive. If FreeBSD is to boot up on the > 2 Gig SCSI, then will I be able to install it via Walnut Creek CD using the > IDE CD-ROM? Also, will I be able to use the IDE Zip Drive with our new > system? > > If it would be easier (for our sanity's sake), we're willing to spend the > extra money on a 12X SCSI CD-ROM drive and a SCSI Zip Drive. What's your > opinion? The only reason we're considering the SCSI hard drive/IDE CD-ROM > and Zip is because we're mainly concerned with serving files as fast as > possible with the SCSI drive, and we're not overly concerned with access > speed of CD-ROM/backups. Go for SCSI! The IDE CDROM has even a lower chance of working if you have no IDE hard disks. If you want to save money get a 8x SCSI CD. It wil probably give you the same kind of performance the 12x IDE will anyhow, and will be a hell lot more reliable. As for the IDE Zip drive, there was a question once on this list concerning it, but I don't think it will be recognized. Again, if you have a SCSI controller, got for SCSI peripherials. With the SMC card, you may face some problems. The cards that use the newer DEC chips (DE-21140A or AC) are problematic. You may have to patch the driver a little. Look around the hackers list archive for the patches. You may be better off with an Intel ExtherExpress 100/B card, but you could probably get the SMC to work too. > > Thanks for your advice! Looking forward to getting our FreeBSD system up > and going... > > Regards, > > Clinton Hogge > Industrial Images > http://www.industrialimages.com/ Nadav