[KLUG Members] Re: New machine - Linux hardware?

[Bryan J. Smith]

Adam Williams wrote:
> Intel if possible, avoid Tyan.

I beg to differ.  I would _avoid_ "early revision" Tyan mainboards,
but they usually get it right after a few revisions.  Even Intel has
had to go OEM for SDRAM chipsets, cross-licensing with ServerWorks. 
Coincidently, ServerWorks' biggest customer, prior to Intel, was
Tyan.

> As big as possible.

"Big" is not always "better."  The _most_important_ rating on a
power supply is the 3.3+5V rating.  AMD maintains a good list of
"Athlon Approved" power supplies, which include the all-important
3.3+5V rating here:
http://www1.amd.com/athlon/power

I swear by the Antec (http://www.antec-inc.com) 400W power supplies
which, at 245W on 3.3+5V, often outrank other 450W+ PS.  Even their
300W does 150W on 3.3+5V, which is better than a number of 400W
power supplies I have seen.  For ~$100, you can get their 400W in
the SX840 and, for ~$125, the SX1040.

I own two SX1040s and love them.  I used to have 7200rpm drives
overheat in my dual-Celey BP6 system (even with 3x80mm fans!) until
I switched to the SX1040.  Now with just 2 extra 80mm fans,
strategically placed, everything runs cool (and a fan directly blows
over the hard drives).  I use the same case/PS for my 1.3GHz Athlon
as well.

> Do you need 3D?  Very nice 2D cards are cheap.
> Spend money on RAM.

3D cards are cheap nowdays.

> Don't know anything about these.

Can't go wrong with a Creative ES1371 or ES1373-based card.  Some of
the ES1373 cards have 4-speaker out, but cost only ~$30, and don't
have the mainboard/Linux compatibility issues like the Live! series.

> Real memory,  not the PC100/PC133 utter crap.  Failure rate on
> PC100/PC133 is phenominal.  Shell out for memory with at least Parity,
> and at best ECC.  At worst case keep a spare stick for when one freaks
> out,  which it will, if you use PC100/PC133.

Again, see my postings on chipsets and SDRAM compatibility.

> More drives the better.  If you use IDE stick to one drive per bus. SCSI
> is cheap these days and will maintain performance while you saturate the
> processors compiling OpenOffice.

With UltraDMA, ATA/IDE is fine for single-user workstations.  No
sense in going SCSI and it can be slower for such purposes.  If you
need ultra-performance, you'd be surprised how good ATA/IDE-RAID is
using _real_ RAID controllers like the 3Ware Escalade with its
on-board microcontroller (so it looks like a SCSI target from the
system/OS perspective).  They Escalade cards start at just over
$100.  There was a recent review on the Escalade 6000-series (the
7000 is now out), the Adaptec 2400A and the Promise SuperTrak (not
the software-BS "FastTrak"):
http://www.zepa.net/hypermail/elug/hardware/2001/06/0028.html

SCSI starts kicking in at a half-dozen processes, which is great for
servers or A/V workstations.  Linux (as well as NT/2000/XP, although
NOT Windows 9x/ME which does not) does SCSI-like command queuing for
ATA/IDE so its "just as good" for single-users.  I still prefer SCSI
for peripherials (usually because I have two hard drives taking up
my two IDE channels).

Which is my final point, do *NOT* put more than one ATA/ATAPI device
on a single IDE channel.  Period.

> If you get IDE keep it on it's own bus.  I have Ricoh,
> they work great.

Agreed.  I used to be a SCSI bigot on peripherials, but the latest
ATA CD-RW drives, on their own channel, with the "Overburn"
protection and the ide-scsi emulation driver, are just as good (and
save you $50).

> Get an SMP motherboard,  you can add another processor
> later when the model you used is CHEAP.

*IF* you can find the same S-Spec of the Intel CPU.  Otherwise, do
NOT expect it to work correctly (or reliabily).  You must also be
wary on some PIII processors, as they are not rated for dual-CPU.  I
cover the S-Spec numbers here:
http://www.zepa.net/hypermail/elug/hardware/2000/12/0007.html

> Budget for a UPS.

Just bought a "repackaged" (but unused) IBM branded APC SmartUPS
1400VA/950W for $194 (yes, <$200!).  Shop around, good deals are to
be found.

> hitechcafe.com and compgeeks.com always have a supply Fujitsu and IBM
> drivers,  buy no other brands.  Nothing will ruin your day like a flaked
> out drive (except flaked out memory).  I can reliably bake a PC brand
> hard drive in six months, Best Buy started to get real annoyed with me.

The "only way to be sure" with HiTechCafe is to call them.  I've had
web-based orders get lost with them.  You have to "nag" them to get
answers (and usually wait for days).

CompGeeks is, for the most part, good (although a billing snafu too
2 months to straighten out with them once).  They are very good on
returns though.

For new hardware, try Multiwave (Mwave.com).  They've got most
everything, usually within 10% of the best PriceWatch price, ship
same day, don't rip you off on shipping, and they'll assemble, test
and pre-load software on a complete system from components you
specify for just a small charge (<<$100).

> -----------------------------------------------------------
> Ximian GNOME, Evolution, LTSP, and RedHat Linux + LVM & XFS
> -----------------------------------------------------------

Agree with you on everything there -- although what's LTSP?

-- TheBS

-- 
Bryan J. Smith   mailto:b.j.smith@ieee.org   chat:thebs413
SmithConcepts, Inc.           http://www.SmithConcepts.com
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