Re: [tlug] Linux compatible motherboards

["Lyle (Hiroshi) Saxon" <ronfaxon@example.com>]

Joseph Essertier wrote:

> Anyway, I found User's Side's phone number just now and called them to
> just see how easy it would be to get something workable from them.  It
> doesn't hurt to ask, right?  They're going to give me an estimate and
> info about what they could sell me in my price range.  If it's really
> easy, and they cost just a little more, I'll probably buy from them.  
>  
Keep us posted on how that goes, because I'm still going to be in the 
market for new equipment even if (when?) I get that old custom box of 
mine straighted out.

By the way, regarding your question about used boxes "Although one thing 
I wondered before was in Japan don't you also have to pay a sizable sum 
to throw the darn thing away?" - while I can't exactly advocate it, some 
people break apart old equipment into small pieces and dispose of the 
plastic bits with other plastic, the metal bits with other metal, etc. 
in the regular trash.  The problem with this route of course, is the 
circuit board, which contains some very nasty substances for landfills.  
Sometimes used dealers will take an old one off your hands when you're 
buying another one from them, but not always.

> My Japanese friends and family don't have as much tolerance for "waste"
> as I do (=in this case if I bought a box and some of its functions did
> not work, that would be defined as waste and failure. While such
> "failure" wouldn't bother me at all.  I see such things as part of the
> process.  But all eyes are on me, the "pioneer" or the "nerd" or the
> "hen na gaijin."  Being a pioneer is not a big goal for me, but that's
> how I'm seen.
Ha-ha!  I know exactly what you mean!  I have family using Linux on an 
old NEC (that has been running continuously for something like eight 
months now, due to the boot-up problem I mentioned earlier with it 
insisting on trying to boot from - and only from - the floppy drive) and 
after the last upgrade from SuSE 9.1 to 9.3, I've become a little 
nervous about making any major changes to that.  Use of my equipment on 
the other hand, I definitely view as including some failures of one sort 
or another.  But this is part of the allure of the multi-box setup - 
with a dedicated test computer, I can fearlessly test different versions 
of Linux, etc. on it and the outcome is irrelevant to the other boxes in 
regular use.  But if you buy a stack of computers, I'm sure your family 
will think you've gone crazy, so that's not a good suggestion I 
suppose!  I myself look at my stack of old machines and shake my head 
"What am I doing..." but they have definitely be useful.

> Some day I'd like to be able to have some understanding of
> the individual parts of the machine and be able to replace or add parts
> as needed.
Now this is a very strong argument in favor of a custom box!  Standard 
boxes from assembly lines are generally not very friendly towards 
changing parts, and tend to have limited BIOS settings, etc.  If you 
like customizing, then definitely go custom!  (If space is an issue 
though, you can get tidier packaging with an assembly line box.)

Lyle