*BSD News Article 73836


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From: j@uriah.heep.sax.de (J Wunsch)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.hardware,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: HELP: Can I mix memory speeds
Date: 15 Jul 1996 22:20:32 GMT
Organization: Private BSD site, Dresden
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khaley@nova.gmi.edu (Kevin Haley) wrote:

> >Stealing Paul Vixie's words:  "Using non-parity memory on a Unix system is
> >like hanging a `kick me' sign on your backside"
> 
> I see no mention of this in the Linux Hardware Compatibility HOWTO.  I've
> been using non-parity memory with Linux for over a year now and I've never
> come across parity errors or even system crashes even when compiling
> programs or re-compiling the kernel.  I've had no problems with X,
> either (other than being extremely slow on my old 486).

It's not crucial as long as your hardware is ok (good memory, a
working motherboard chipset, good cache etc.)  However, there's too
much crap around in the PeeCee world.  For crappy hardware, the
existance of a parity error is a much better way to determine the
source of your evil than randomly crashing programs or kernels.

(You apparently don't suffer from the latter, so be happy.)

-- 
cheers, J"org

joerg_wunsch@uriah.heep.sax.de -- http://www.sax.de/~joerg/ -- NIC: JW11-RIPE
Never trust an operating system you don't have sources for. ;-)