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From: Gareth McCaughan <gjm11@pmms.cam.ac.uk>
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,comp.os.linux.hardware
Subject: Re: Request for advice
Date: 18 Dec 1996 16:54:14 +0000
Organization: International Pedant Conspiracy
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In-reply-to: Gareth McCaughan's message of 05 Dec 1996 18:47:01 +0000
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A while ago, I wrote:
> I'm about to buy a new PC to use as a Unix box. My budget is
> limited, and I want a nice monitor, so I'm going to have to
> cut some corners. I'd like some advice on what corners I can
> cut. I'll be running either a recent Linux or a recent FreeBSD;
> advice from either camp is welcome.
and received some helpful replies -- thanks, everyone. I'm now
rather further along the road, and have found a few vendors who
have systems approximating to what I want at prices I can sort of
afford :-), and I'd be grateful for some advice on specifics.
So:
1. Motherboard.
I'm going to be using a Cyrix P166+. The motherboards on offer
are all Triton HX, and are:
- Pine <I don't know the model>
- ASUS P55T2P4
- Abit PN52
- Gigabyte 586HX.
The Cyrix official motherboard list mentions the Abit PN5; is this
the same thing as the PN52?
ASUS say that the P55T2P4 is "marginal" with the P166+; I'd be
very interested in reports of successes and failures with that
combination.
I can't find any useful information about Pine anywhere. Should
I be worried?
There are some Gigabyte boards on the Cyrix list, but none of
them is called 586HX. Again, I'd be interested in reports of
successes and failures.
2. Hard discs.
I'm going EIDE rather than SCSI because I can't afford SCSI.
One vendor is offering a Maxtor drive; another a Fujitsu one.
Is there much to choose between Maxtor and Fujitsu? Eric Raymond's
hardware guide quotes an expert's classification of drives into
tiers, which puts Maxtor ahead of Fujitsu; is this still true?
Experience?
3. Monitor.
I'm giving serious consideration to the Samsung (er, Samtron?)
17GLsi. Other things in the same league include the CTX PR700
and the Iiyama VisionMaster Pro 17; I know this is all terribly
subjective, but I'd be interested in opinions of these three,
and particularly in comparisons between them. (I am aware of
the standard advice: buy monitors in person rather than by
mail order...)
As I said before, responses by e-mail and postings here are both
welcome. Thanks in advance to all...
--
Gareth McCaughan Dept. of Pure Mathematics & Mathematical Statistics,
gjm11@dpmms.cam.ac.uk Cambridge University, England.