Return to BSD News archive
Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!munnari.OZ.AU!news.Hawaii.Edu!ames!enews.sgi.com!www.nntp.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!news.sprintlink.net!news-peer.sprintlink.net!news.bbnplanet.com!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!demos!news1.best.com!nntp1.best.com!shellx.best.com!not-for-mail From: tporczyk@best.com (Tony Porczyk) Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Seeking advice on new system purchase Date: 20 Dec 1996 00:04:57 -0800 Organization: BEST Internet Communications Lines: 41 Message-ID: <59dhb9$p6g@shellx.best.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: shellx.best.com X-Newsreader: NN version 6.5.0 #6 (NOV) Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:32820 Christmas season is right ahead of us, and it's time to reward oneself, so I'm planning a purchase of a new box to run primarily FreeBSD. While researching individual components, I have built a short list of questions I was hoping more experienced FreeBSD users could help me with. First, the purpose of the box. It is going to be a workstation mainly, with light server use, no USENET or web (maybe to a limited degree, to experiment with some Intranet solutions), but with quite a bit of networking going on and a reasonable amount of compiling (and a lot of documenting :-). Here are the questions: 1. What is the perceived speedup between regular Pentium (say, 166 which I'm using now) and PPro (180 or 200)? Is it worth the extra expense? 2. I have read good reviews of the latest Diamond 3D 3000 (VRAM) card. Since the new release of FreeBSD includes v.3.2 of XFree86, I've checked the docs but didn't see a specific mention of that card. Does anyone know if it's supported under a different name? If so, has anyone had a chance to use it and see how it performs? 3. Within a foreseable future I would like to add a SCSI tape and perhaps even a writeable CDROM (primarily for use with another OS). Would Adaptec 3940 be appropriate for such a task? (to split the primary hard drive from tape and CD). Or would it be better to buy two separate 2940s? Am I misunderstanding the purpose of 3940? 4. I was attracted by the low price of IBM SCSI 2 GB 32160 drives. Are they any good? 5. For the type of use I have described, does it make much of a difference to go to UW for SCSI? And one more question not directly related to FreeBSD. The Viewsonic P815 got the "Best of Comdex" award. Has anyone used it? I've never used Viewsonics before, but the 21" monitor with good sharpness does appeal to me (a lot of writing). I appreciate all and any comments. t. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tony Porczyk * tporczyk@infobound.com * San Jose, California * GIT/ED d++$(!d) s++:++ a? C++++ UBSL++++$ P+ E--- W(--) N++ !k w-- M- V? b- PS+++@ PE++ O X-- Y++@ PGP-- t-@ 5++ R* D---- !e>e++@ h* y** r+++(*)+++(*)> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------