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- Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd
- Path: sparky!uunet!usc!cs.utexas.edu!newsfeed.rice.edu!rice!news.Rice.edu!rich
- From: rich@Rice.edu (& Murphey)
- Subject: Re: 386BSD - novice questions - hardware requirements
- In-Reply-To: messina@netcom.com's message of 16 Dec 92 19:41:17 GMT
- Message-ID: <RICH.92Dec16215721@superego.Rice.edu>
- Sender: news@rice.edu (News)
- Reply-To: Rich@rice.edu
- Organization: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Rice
- University
- References: <1992Dec16.194117.26101@netcom.com>
- Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 03:57:21 GMT
- Lines: 54
-
- >>>>> In article <1992Dec16.194117.26101@netcom.com>, messina@netcom.com (Tony Porczyk) writes:
- Tony> I've read all the articles back that I could retrieve, but I only
- Tony> found an attempt to create a faq, so I decided to ask a few novice
- Tony> questions here. I have an unopened 386BSD compact disc with GNU
- Tony> Software distribution, X, a.s.o. I realize that installation notes
- Tony> are on the disc, but I haven't purchased the machine for it yet and do
- Tony> not have the compact disc drive. Without it, I am not sure what
- Tony> hardware to purchase... If any of the more experienced 386BSD users
- Tony> could answer the questions below, I would appreciate it:
-
- Tony> 1. I am planning to purchase 340 MB drive and split it in half between
- Tony> OS/2 and 386BSD. Will it be enough? How much space does it
- Tony> require? Can it be installed on the same drive as OS/2?
- Tony> 2. Is Adaptec 1542B supported?
-
- Yes, the 0.1 release supports the Adaptec 1542B.
-
- Tony> 3. Is 16 MB of memory sufficient to run X comfortably?
-
- Yes, 16Mb is plenty for X. The only time I've seen significant
- swapping with 16Mb is when running X, several emacs and compiliing
- large C++ source files at the same time.
-
- Tony> 4. Does it support dumb/intelligent serial terminal multiport cards?
-
- Chris Demetriou's com driver does.
-
- Tony> 5. I would like to buy Diamond SpeedStar 24X with the WD chipset. Is
- Tony> this card supported?
-
- It's a long story actually....
-
- Xfree86 does not support any Diamond card designed after the Diamond
- Speedstar+. This is due Diamond's unusual policy (among SVGA
- vendors) of providing all technical details on programming the clock
- synthesizer only under a non-disclosure agreement. Since XFree86 is
- distributed in source form we can't agree to non-disclosure. All
- attempts to work this out have been rejected by Diamond, so we are
- no longer trying to get information from them, nor will we accept
- code contributions to support their boards, as long as these
- policies remain. Actix and Orchid have been very active in making
- sure that we have all the information we need. So there is no
- reason to bother with Diamond, for a chipset that no one else is
- using, with anti-freeware policies.
-
-
- Tony> 6. I know EISA would be preferrable, but I can't afford it. Is there
- Tony> any point in even bothering with ISA bus? Will it be very slow?
- Tony> 7. Of the three (for those who use them all or two of them) - which
- Tony> one seems most stable: Coherent/Linux/386BSD?
- Tony> Thanks,
- Tony> Tony
-
- Rich
-