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From: michaelv@MindBender.HeadCandy.com (Michael L. VanLoon)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd
Subject: Re: HELP: installing netbsd+64mb RAM+adaptec
Date: 12 Nov 1994 17:48:56 GMT
Organization: HeadCandy Associates... Sweets for the lobes.
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Message-ID: <MICHAELV.94Nov12114859@MindBender.HeadCandy.com>
References: <1994Nov11.071053.26169@slate.mines.colorado.edu>
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NNTP-Posting-Host: mindbender.headcandy.iastate.edu
In-reply-to: nate@bsd.coe.montana.edu's message of 12 Nov 1994 04:11:20 GMT
In article <3a1f98$pil@pdq.coe.montana.edu> nate@bsd.coe.montana.edu (Nate Williams) writes:
>What FreeBSD has is a hack to fix the ISA bus behavior. A necessary
>hack because of the Neanderthal design of the ISA bus.
I wouldn't call it a hack. The ISA bus was designed when 16MB was a
I just *knew* someone would take it as an insult that I called it a
hack. There's nothing wrong with it -- it's a hack that needs to be.
It's a hack because it's a software band-aid for a hardware design
flaw.
>Your options are to buy a better SCSI card that uses PCI, EISA, or VLB
>(recommended, just for sheer performance and usability reasons,
Why? My 486/66 ISA box works VERY well. It has a 1542B adaptec card
and this box outruns DECstations and is more stable than the Alpha the
CS dept. uses. (And for some applications runs better, but that's
mostly because the Alpha has 20 users on it while I have 2-3. :-)
Why? Because 1542's are ungodly slow compared to today's technology.
I've sat boxes down side-by-side and compared, so I know just how
pathetic the performance is compared to a PCI or EISA SCSI controller.
I'm just recommending a logical hardware upgrade.
My 486/80 EISA box works VERY well, also. I'll bet it "works" better
than your box at out-running those DECstations. But, what does that
prove?
If I were going to buy a new box today it would be a PCI box, but
telling someone to go off and buy new hardware when the old hardware is
perfectly good borders on snobbishness IMHO. Just because NetBSD
doesn't support the hardware means the hardware is bad.
You are correct -- the hardware isn't bad just because NetBSD doesn't
support it in a certain application (which I assume is what you were
trying to say). The hardware is bad because it's very limited, and
won't work in the situation he wants it to work in.
You're welcome to continue using it, but I'm sure we all have plans
for upgrades to our systems. I don't plan on keeping mine the way it
is for the rest of my life -- I've already done some hefty upgrades
recently. So, I'm suggesting that this guy's next hardware upgrade be
his SCSI card. Is that so ludicrous?
Sheesh, we all can't afford P-90 PCI boxes with 32MB of memory and 10GB
of disk, can we?
Not I. I only have a 486DX2/80 with EISA, 20MB of RAM, and 1GB of
SCSI disk, and a BusLogic EISA SCSI controller. Some day when I
upgrade again, maybe I can get a nice P6-200 PCI system, or something
similar. Some day...
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Michael L. VanLoon michaelv@HeadCandy.com michaelv@iastate.edu
Free your mind and your machine -- NetBSD free un*x for PC/Mac/Amiga/etc.
Working NetBSD ports: 386+PC, Mac, Amiga, HP300, Sun3, Sun4c, PC532
In progress: DEC pmax (MIPS R2k/3k), VAX, Sun4m
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