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Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!munnari.oz.au!spool.mu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!cs.utexas.edu!news.tamu.edu!prism.tamu.edu!hickman From: hickman@prism.tamu.edu (Dan Hickman) Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.questions Subject: Re: Will this configuration work OK? Date: 9 May 1994 00:44:27 GMT Organization: Texas A&M University, College Station, TX Lines: 65 Message-ID: <2qk11b$9em@news.tamu.edu> References: <CpFv2u.Mvs@galaxia.network23.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: prism.tamu.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] David H. Brierley (dave@galaxia.network23.com) wrote: : I am putting togethor a new system and I wanted to get some feedback on it : before I spent all my hard earned money. I am relatively new to the PC : compatible market, although I have been working with large systems and Sun : workstations for about 20 years. Because of my previous experience, I want : to run some form of BSD UNIX on the machine. Right now I am leaning towards : FreeBSD but I have not ruled out NetBSD. Based on the reading that I have : done and conversations with other people, the following is the configuration : that I am looking at right now: : 486 DX/40 with 256K cache : ISA with VLB motherboard : 16 meg of memory : Adaptec 1542CF SCSI controller : large SCSI disk (greater than 1 GB) : Orchid F1280+ video card (S3 chipset) : 17 inch monitor (Idek 8617 or MAG DX17) : I am somewhat concerned about overall system performance but my highest : priorities are making sure everything will work togethor and getting the : system at a low enough price that my wife wont have a fit. I decided to : go with the SCSI controller because I already have the disk and I have : access to a SCSI tape drive and SCSI CD player. : The questions I have are as follows: : 1. Will the system boot from the SCSI disk or do I need an IDE disk to boot? : 2. Is the Adaptec card good? I read of some problem with an Adaptec card in : a system with 16 meg of memory. I have also seen a lot of people talking : about the Bus Logic cards. Are the Bus Logic cards better than the Adaptec : cards, and if so which card should I get? : 3. Is 16 meg of memory enough? I plan on using XFree86. : 4. Should I spend the extra money to get the EISA bus? Will the EISA bus : make a *noticeable* difference in system performance? : 5. If the Orchid F1280 a good video card? I would like to run the monitor : in 1280x1024 mode so I need a card that will support that mode, and obviously : I need a card that is supported under XFree86. : -- : David H. Brierley Work: dhb@ssd.ray.com : 3B1 Hacker Extraordinaire Home: dave@galaxia.network23.com When it comes to NetBSD, I don't recommend it. I first tried installing it and had major problems. Here is a list of some of the major things I could not get to work. talk daemon did not work ftp daemon core dumped every time it was executed did not come with sendmail config file (never got sendmail to work correctly) installation procedure was more dificult than freebsd numerous other smaller problems had problems getting password enctyption working I installed FreeBSD and it solved all these problems!!!! Dan -- ------------------------------------------------------------ | hickman@ttisys.tamu.edu | | Texas Transportation Institute | | Texas A&M University System | ------------------------------------------------------------