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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.mel.connect.com.au!munnari.OZ.AU!spool.mu.edu!news.sgi.com!newsfeeder.sdsu.edu!nntp04.primenet.com!news.shkoo.com!nntp.primenet.com!news.mathworks.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!in2.uu.net!news.dhp.com!jaeger From: jaeger@dhp.com (jaeger) Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Re: hardware?? What do I need? Date: 28 Jul 1996 20:24:35 GMT Organization: DataHaven Project +1 412 421 4516 (DHP.COM) Lines: 64 Message-ID: <4tgia3$7gm@dhp.com> References: <4t02sr$btn@hkusuc.hku.hk> <4t8r29$jv9@holocron.odc.net> <31F8CE4F.5E81@ccnet.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: news.dhp.com X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2+color] josh bloom (joshua@ccnet.com) wrote: : I want to setup a free bsd system at home. I am ready to go buy the : hardware, but I don't know what to get. Where can I find out. I don't : want to get the wrong thing? : joshua@ccnet.com Well Josh, you didn't specify a price range but here's what FreeBSD (and I!) like: Motherboard: PCI based 486, p5 or p6 motherboard, with at least 256k of cache, preferably pipeline burst. The most important thing is to get the latest bugfixed chipsets, which would be B0 stepping for both the Orion and Triton II chipsets. Supposedly the Natoma <sp?> chipset for the p6 doesn't have some of the basic design flaws all Orion chipsets do. RAM: As much as you can afford, in parity 72-pin SIMMS. 32MB would be a good choice, in a pair of 16MB SIMMS. These are very inexpensive these days. SCSI: SCSI is *the* way to go for a serious machine. FreeBSD likes the NCR based, Adaptec and Buslogic controllers particularly. The NCR-based controllers are as fast as the Adaptec ones, but note if you get a BIOSless controller card you'll have to get a motherboard that supports the NCR BIOS so you can boot from the SCSI drive. Some people also report the NCR chip doesn't like removable media drives, i.e. it will hang on bootup with an empty tape or cartridge drive. You should get at a minimum a Fast SCSI-2 drive; perhaps you'd want a fast-wide one if you're doing disk-intensive work. Make sure you get a wide SCSI controller in this case. The Seagate Barracuda and Quantum Atlas are high performance 7200 rpm drives that have a good reputation. There's really no reason to get a drive physically larger than 3.5x1". As always, get more drive space than you plan on needing. Even without Microsoft's Bloatware, these things tend to fill up. Chassis: A quality chassis and power supply will pay rich dividends. The "Enlight" chassis seem to be in demand for their quality and easy-access features. Try to get a power supply that is UL listed and FCC approved. Video: Any video card supported by XFree86 will work, and in addition those supported by the commercial X servers such as AcceleratedX. The Number 9 Motion 771 performs very well on benchmarks, as do the Matrox cards under AcceleratedX. CD-ROM: A SCSI CD-ROM. Toshiba 4x units seem to be around $145 US now. Of course, any SCSI unit should work. If you wanted high-capacity, the Pioneer DRM-624X 6 disk changer is supported, has 4.4x speed and will toggle to 512 byte boot blocks in case you ever need to boot a Sun workstation :). Tape: Any SCSI tape is supported. 4mm DAT and 8mm formats for the high capacities, QIC format for the lower. A budget solution would be a used Archive Python QIC-150 drive, which will put 250MB on a cassette. Monitor: The bigger the better :). I've had a long preference for the models with Trinitron tubes. The 17" MAG 17T features a Trinitron tube, for a little bit less than the Sony branded equivalent. Say, $675 US compared to roughly $800 for the Sony Multiscan 17sf II I have here. NIC: The SMC Etherpower 10/100 is a great buy at ~$140 US. The FreeBSD support is excellent and it's a good investment in the future, when 100Mb/sec Fast Ethernet hubs come down in price. I'd be happy to prattle on about my biases in laptops, modems, etc., if you'd like any more advice. -jaeger