Re: [tlug] Who do you recommend for Business Desktop?

[Jonathan Byrne <jq@example.com>]

On Sun, Feb 29, 2004 at 01:50:35PM +0100, Godwin Stewart wrote:

>Yabbut, many of the "all-in-one" mobos use chipsets which aren't directly
>supported by the Linux kernel.

You mean things like the Intel Worktstation board? ;-)

> Furthermore, suppose the graphics chip goes
>south...

That'll happen right after pigs fly, right? :-)  Seriously, I've never
seen that happen.  Ever.  Well, once, but that was because a stray power
supply lead in the case someone came into contact with the video card
and fried the chip.  True story.  How that happened inside a rackmount
case (in a machine that was actually rack-mounted and had been there for
a long time) I have no idea.

>that there's no option to deactivate the on-board stuff and plug an AGP card
>in.

Actually, you can.  Just because you have onboard sound/video doesn't
mean you have to use it.  However, the main thing with an all-in-one
board is that if a component fails, the wisest course of action is
to just toss the board rather than wait for the next thing to
fail.

Also, all-in-ones generally come with graphics chips of a fairly 
modest spec.  They might not even have a fan.  Compare that to, say,
a Radeon 9000 (which isn't even considered a high-perf chip anymore; I
just site it because I happen to have one), where if the fan fries
your chip is going to fry too and then you head down to Fry's to
buy another video card (for those who don't live in the Western US,
Fry's is a big electronics retailer with liberal return policies even
on opened boxes containing things like mother boards and graphics
cards.  Of course, I never buy a box that has been opened, just to be on
the safe side) :-p

Jonathan
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