Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 11:08:39 -0600 (MDT) From: Wes Peters - Softweyr LLC <softweyr@xmission.com> To: hubert@joule.physics.uottawa.ca Cc: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: hardware compatibility Message-ID: <199706111708.LAA12866@xmission.xmission.com> In-Reply-To: <339EB0B8.13D0@physics.uottawa.ca> from "Sylvain Hubert" at Jun 11, 97 10:05:44 am
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Sylvain Hubert asks:
> I am presently a grad student at the university of Ottawa (Canada) in
> physics. We are planning to setup an array of Pentium-pro for parallel
> programming running FreeBSD. I have a simple question regarding hardware
> compability. Here is the components that were suggested by the
> retailler:
>
> -ASUS P6NP5 pentium/pro motherboard with intel PP 200Mhz, 256K cache
> -64 MB EDO RAM
> -2.1 GB Panasonic SCSI HD
> -2 MB PCI S-3-3D Virge Graphic video card
> -17 " Daytek digital video
This sounds fine. 17" might be a little small for the monitor, and
given how much you're spending, the extra 2M of video RAM is probably
worthwhile as well. Try to get a Virge card with VRAM, they're much
faster.
> -mitsumi mouse
Ugh! Why not spend a few dollars more and get a good mouse?
> -12x SCSI toshiba cd-rom (ext)
> -Adaptec ISA SCSI-II card
ISA SCSI2? Get a PCI card for heaven's sake! Either a 2940, or one
of the many NCR 8xx-based SCSI cards, like the ASUS SC-200.
> -OvisLink PCI Combo lan coard
If this is the NE2000 PnP clone, forget it. Get a card based on the
DEC 21040 chips for 10baseT. If you are using 100baseTX, get a DEC
21140 based card or an Intel Pro 100B. I know the OvisLink cards are
cheap, I have one myself, but you won't be impressed with the
performance. Plus, in order to make it work with FreeBSD, you have to
configure it in DOS for a fixed i/o address and irq, and disable PnP.
> Can you tell me if this hardware would have any problem running under
> FreeBSD or/and make any suggestion.
Find a better retailer? ;^)
--
"Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket?"
Wes Peters Softweyr LLC
http://www.xmission.com/~softweyr softweyr@xmission.com
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