Re: tlug: Alan Stone + DIY Machines

[Craig Oda <craig@example.com>]

--------------------------------------------------------
tlug note from Craig Oda <craig@example.com>
--------------------------------------------------------


On Mon, 12 May 1997, John Little wrote:

>    I'd be interested in anyone else's story on home-built systems, too
>    (I'm getting a little "restless" with day-long compiles when
>    rebuilding the kernel on a 386. :-) ). Does anyone have a 
>    recommendation for a motherboard/chipset for a general-purpose
>    linux machine?

My main machine/server is a 166mhz Intel machine with 32 megs of RAM,
Mach CTI 32 accelerated chipset, Crystal sound set, IDE hard disks.
My recommendations:
   The processor is fast enough and you can probably get a 133 mhz
     one and still be happy unless you do heavy compiles all the time.
   32 megs of RAM is enough
   Get a graphics card that supports at least 32K colors.  256 colors
     is not enough for the hobbyist that web surfs
   I have a cheap 2,000 yen 10-Base T ethernet.  This seems to be
     enough.  I have never experienced network saturation in my
     home area network yet.  :-)
   Although my chip set is supposed to be full-duplex, I can't get it
     to work as a full-duplex.  I recommend you buy a full-duplex so
     you can call to your home country using Internet based phones
     in the future. 
   Disks.  I recommend getting fast SCSI disks.  The disk access speed
     appears to be the bottleneck on my system.
   My motherboard is the Intel Atlantis and I have an Intel chip.  I
     think that a Cyrix and a cheap 20,000 yen motherboard would 
     perform the same. 

Probably could get the above system without the monitor for 
100,000-150,000 yen in Akihabara.  I bet you could even get it 
under 100,000 if you made the effort.  I've seen Cyrix 133mhz
for 9,800 yen and main boards for 14,980 yen.  

Regards,
Craig




-----------------------------------------------------------------
a word from the sponsor will appear below
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The TLUG mailing list is proudly sponsored by TWICS - Japan's First
Public-Access Internet System.  Now offering 20,000 yen/year flat
rate Internet access with no time charges.  Full line of corporate
Internet and intranet products are available.   info@example.com
Tel: 03-3351-5977   Fax: 03-3353-6096