On Fri, 25 Apr 2008 03:08:58 -0500, Longfellow wrote:

> On 2008-04-24, Douglas Mayne <doug@localhost.localnet> wrote:
>> On Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:18:50 -0500, Longfellow wrote:
>>
>>> ... or is it a tectonic shift? The wife is now more sensitive to her
>>> computer performance than am I! So now we go hunting for new hardware.
>>>
>>> But all that is negotiable. What is not is that it run Slackware 12.x.
>>> Ergo, that is the benchmark, and why I'm mentioning it here: What are
>>> you guys using for hardware? What is the most rock solid reasonably
>>> performing system (actually, components, I suppose) that Slackers have
>>> found?
>>>
>>> Understand that the wife is running my old Tomcat 3 w/ 133MHz Pentium,
>>
>> Do you mean an original, P5 pentium at 133 MHz? If so, you may be
>> interested in the upgrades listed below.
>
> Yep. Now to be retired to duty as a mail server or the like under
> FreeBSD (or the like). It's now a teen-ager and behaves itself
> remarkably well for its age... quality does show, dontchaknow... );
>
Tyan boards, at least the subset I've handled, seemed to have
somehow avoided the capacitor failure problem which plagued other
manufacturers: Abit, DFI, etc.

I have some Tyan 230T's in use for various purposes. The dual processors
keep the system responsive while under load. They were the best "bang for
the buck," until recently. Now that title goes to Intel's Core 2
architecture, IMO. One of the biggest changes is the much faster memory
pipeline to the CPUs. The new architecture's uses multi-pumped DDR2 SDRAM
and is dramatically faster than the simple SDRAM typically used by
the Pentium III generation. Also, Core 2, as its name suggests, contains
multiple cores which gives the advantages that I previously mentioned. The
45nm process further reduces heat, and offers more options down the road.
For example, the atom processor line appears poised to get the most
out of a "few million" transitors.

Your timing is actually quite good for upgrading. Prices have dropped
again, and the Linux kernel supports SATA and the new chipsets- at least
for the motherboards that I have tested (which use Intel chipsets.) Last
year, there was a bit of a rough patch with the kernel supporting the
hardware. AFAIK, JMicron chipsets are supported now, and also the Marvell
ethernet controllers, which are commonly integrated into many
motherboards, work fine. It appears to be true that the newest hardware
will be supported best by the most recent Linux kernel. This is somewhat
counter to Slackware's philosophy of selecting first the "tried and true"
for stability over the "latest and greatest" for gizmos. However,
sometimes the "bleeding edge" is the only option that will work at all.
I am looking forward to Slackware 12.1, and it looks like it will be the
best Slack yet!

[ Even more OT ]

If I were a conspiracy theorist, I would be asking Intel to give a
deposition if there was any tit-for-tat in the Vista capable lawsuit.
Specifically, did Intel have to give anything to Microsoft in exchange
for them being allowed to display "Vista Capable" stickers on boxes
using i915 and similar chipsets. Could it be that Intel promised not
to develop AHCI mode SATA drivers for W2k and XP? This mode is
_reserved_ for Vista only. Was there a quid-pro-quo? Luckily, this BS is
avoided when drivers are developed in the open. AHCI mode works fine on
the recent Linux kernel.