Date: Fri, 13 Jun 1997 07:15:29 -0400 (EDT) From: Peter Dufault <dufault@hda.com> To: softweyr@xmission.com (Wes Peters) Cc: thompson@squirrel.tgsoft.com, questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Compaq anyone? Message-ID: <199706131115.HAA08114@hda.hda.com> In-Reply-To: <199706130251.UAA05429@obie.softweyr.ml.org> from Wes Peters at "Jun 12, 97 08:51:11 pm"
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> mark thompson writes: > > I have been tempted to get a Compaq Armada, but I know that people have > > had bad problems with Compaqs in general, compatability-wise. > > > > Please forward any advice or experiences to me please... > > Compaq charges way too much for their run-of-the-mill, incompatible > hardware. Find a decent little local distributor who will let you bring > things back for a full refund within 3 to 5 days and build your own > system. PCs are pretty much commodity items these days, and if you buy > quality components you won't get burned. Plus, you'll know exactly what > you're getting, will have the documentation on how to set the jumpers on > that combo-fantastic-47-functions-in-one-chip card in your machine. I purchased a returned Compaq Presario 6704 for $450.00 with 24MB memory, 1.6gb disk, 166Mhz Pentium, 6X CDROM, etc etc last December as a crash box. Six months later that still counts as a good price. Other than the "you must set MAXMEM in config" business the machine is working perfectly. The quality and fit is far above most of the run of the mill junk and it appears an engineer has actually looked at it. I like how the bus cage snaps out with the expansion cards in it and the torx fasteners. Everything works except the 33.6 modem which doesn't probe and shows up as a mysterious PCI device (it also has a 19200 modem though). X works fine on the built in video. It builds current-world almost every morning. It hasn't crashed or hung unexpectedly yet. As it came without the Compaq software I called tech support, pressed the "I'm a business" button, got support in five minutes, and had the replacement CDROM in two days. I didn't expect much from the Compaq but I'm happy with the performance, quality, and support. -- Peter Dufault (dufault@hda.com) Realtime development, Machine control, HD Associates, Inc. Safety critical systems, Agency approval
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