From owner-freebsd-questions Sun Jan 5 11:27:16 1997 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.8.4/8.8.4) id LAA10699 for questions-outgoing; Sun, 5 Jan 1997 11:27:16 -0800 (PST) Received: from localhost.my.domain (ivydp20.zilker.net [206.225.46.20]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.8.4/8.8.4) with ESMTP id LAA10694 for ; Sun, 5 Jan 1997 11:27:12 -0800 (PST) Received: (from marquard@localhost) by localhost.my.domain (8.7.5/8.7.3) id NAA08541; Sun, 5 Jan 1997 13:24:49 -0600 (CST) To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Good buy or not? References: From: Dave Marquardt Date: 05 Jan 1997 13:24:48 -0600 In-Reply-To: wb2oyc@cyberenet.net's message of Sun, 05 Jan 1997 09:27:44 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <8520bzc4cf.fsf@localhost.my.domain> Lines: 42 X-Mailer: Gnus v5.3/Emacs 19.34 Sender: owner-questions@freebsd.org X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk wb2oyc@cyberenet.net writes: > I wonder if anyone on the list may have experience with Packard > Bell machines, running FreeBSD? The reason for the question is, a local > store is selling excess stock that didn't sell during the holiday season > at a price that is very, very, tempting. Actually, the price is only a > little more than the cost of a decent motherboard, and it is for a > complete system, including monitor, 4X CD-ROM, etc. The processor is a > 75Mhz Pentium. I don't know the whole story of the Pentium line, but > would it be reasonable to assume that the cpu could be readily upgraded? > Thats a detail that might depend entirely on the capability of the board > in the machine, and I know little about PB, other than the adverse stories > of the recent past. Are they still using "refurbished" stuff and selling > it as new? Do their machines use standard memory components, so they > could be easily upgraded with parts from other vendors, etc? They don't > mention the vendor, but the machine includes an video accelerator type of > card, and the machine is billed as a "multimedia home PC". The monitor is > one of those goofy looking things with speakers glued to its sides. It is > a model 4240. Anyone have any comments on its insides, and whether it > might be as good a buy as it appears to be? The system you describe is very much like the one I have, and I do run FreeBSD on it. As for upgrades, Intel is currently selling a 125 MHz upgrade for 75 MHz Pentiums. As for components, I've had no problems installing 4 MB and 8 MB SIMMs, and I also installed a USRobotics 28.8 Kbps internal modem, no problem. My machine has a Cirrus Logic GD5434 graphics chip, and it seems fine, though I don't have much to compare it to. And yes, I have the monitor with the goofy speakers. You wouldn't *HAVE* to use those speakers, though. > My current machine is an old 486 box, and I need space for an > additional HD, etc. Running an AMD 486/133, so this machine would not > really be much of an upgrade in itself in terms of performance, but if > possible, I would quickly upgrade its cpu and memory. Would this be a > decent platform to build on or not? No opinion there--I'm pretty much a novice in the PC game. -Dave