There's some timing, density and type issues with mixing SIMMs and DIMMs together. If you have the manual for the motherboard, it probably tells you this, although cryptically so. I have tried it, not always with success. Even with initial success, you can have problems later on. If you don't have to do it to get your memory volume I wouldn't want you to go through the frustration.
Actually, the ATi Rage Pro will work fine with Mandrake. I now remember that is what I am using in my 8.2 box for the kids/guests. It would't have the 'umph' to drive Tux Racer or any OpenGL stuff, but has been good to me, so far. I believe it has 8 MBs of RAM on it. Just use the 3.3.6 X-server. You know, I have yet to get even 3 Gigs of programs on a drive from an installation. That's a workstation, mind you, but still with all the games, bells, whistles and Windows manager (KDE and Gnome.) I would think 8 Gigs will be fine for him to learn on. I think that it is more a speed issue in using these 'tiny' drives. The smaller drives are not as fast, and since a swap file is needed, drive speed dramatically affects system speed. Aw, well. :-) You use what you have. I have a 3 and 2 Gig Samsung in the kids' PC. When you say "standard vga", you make my eyebrows pop up with concern. True standard VGA cannot support resolutions above 640X480 and sometimes not beyond 16 color, which is nearly useless in X-windows. Do you have any specs on the monitor? Can it really reach 1024X768 at 16-bits? When the video card is capable of driving more color depth and a higher frequency than the monitor can take, this is when the utmost caution is necessary. Frying a monitor in Linux is so-o-o-o easy to do! I love using the SB 16s because they are still supported so well and easy to configure. There's a good chance that you will be to us 'sndconfig' at the console level, after installation, to get the card working, but still no sweat. Not great sound, but work wonderfully in Linux. Sounds like a project destined to work! I wish I could get my daughters interested in such a project. Maybe, it's a 'generation' thing, and I will have to wait for grandchildren? T :-) ----- Original Message ----- From: "Anne Wilson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2002 8:43 AM Subject: Re: [newbie] Min spec On Wednesday 20 Nov 2002 1:24 pm, Technoslick wrote: > Stick with DIMMs. Mixing the two is not simply a > matter of placing the memory physically in the slots. There are several > factors that are very technical, and not worth the bother. Your board is > setup to run PC100 memory, or memory that clocks at 100 MHz. Make sure that > you buy memory that is the same clock speed. Don't even consider buying > SIMMs. Just a big waste of money. Definitely wouldn't buy SIMMS - just whether to use what's there, but I think you're right, it would be better to just use the 128Mb DIMM. On the question of clock speed, however, I think it's not easy to get 100 MHz DIMMS now - they all seem to be 133. I know you can often get away with running them at the slower clock speed, but I'm sure I have read that it's not always OK. Trouble is I can't remember the circumstances. Any comments? > > The BIOS date on the motherboard is old, pre-1988, which means that you may > have some concerns in getting a new hard drive to work with this system. > How large is the hard drive you plan on using? If it is too big, you will > need to either flash the BIOS with an update (you need to know who made the > motherboard, check their site, if they have one, download the update and > apply it) or add BIOS Update Card to an ISA slot. the cards are not cheap > at around $40-$50 USD. But, if a BIOS update can't be found, it the only > way to use a drive that would be out of the BIOS's ability to work with. > Most drives come with software designed to handle older BIOS's, but they > are designed to load in an MS-DOS environment. So, if you are looking for > max sizes on a drive, something around 8 Gigs is it. > Yeah - this is a 8Gb max. bios. I can give it a couple of 4Gb disks, and just be careful not to install too many programs. > I couldn't find anything specific on the S3 video card you have now. > harddrake would probe the S3 chip and figure out what generic driver to > use. However, if you are going to use this card, in test, I strongly urge > you to install in Expert mode and specifically pick the 3.3.6 version of > X-server. Even then, there's no guarantee that you will find the right > combinations of frequencies to make X-windows come up. Trial and error, > even if the card is supported. It's very old, I'm not sure it's worth the trouble. > > I have no experience with the newer generation Diamond video cards, so I > can't offer any help as top whether the Diamond/Voodoo combination will > work well. If the card is new, go with the 4.2.2 X-server. If it is older? > Which ever one works best for you, or at all. XFree86 3.3.6 gives better 3D > support on older accelerated cards (so it says on the install screen). The Diamond card is the same age as the Voodoo, and was used with it originally. I'll remember what you say about the XFree86 version. I also have an ATi RagePro card (PCI) - again an early one - but I assume that the problems with ATi cards make this a poor choice. > > NICs using the Realtek chips are fine for Linux. They are the most common > outside of 3Coms and they are picked up by Linux readily enough. I use nothing else - even the SMC EZ cards are Realtek. > > Questions: > > 1) Monitor? Bog standard vga, I think with Voodoo would be capable of 1024x768 at 16 bit. > 2) Hard Drive capacity? See above > 3) Sound Card? Creative Soundblaster - again early model. > 4) Modem? Not required - will connect via lan. > 5) Anything else? Don't think so. > > Does this help any? Definitely, thanks Anne > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Anne Wilson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2002 7:19 AM > Subject: Re: [newbie] Min spec > > On Tuesday 19 Nov 2002 12:38 pm, Technoslick wrote: > > Tell us more about the specs for this older box, Anne. This the perfect > > place to find if anyone has had any problems with older components in > > Linux. > > > > > > T > > OK - this is what I have gleaned so far - > > M'board - Mainboard Pentium MMX - driver disk is name PC100 > CPU AMD 6x86MX 233 > BIOS date 7/15/95 > Current RAM is 2x16 + 2x32 Mb (96 in all) in SIMMS. > > Manual says Mobo 'Supports 3 banks of FP/EDO SIMM/DIMM and SDRAM DIMM > expandable memory up to 384 Mb'. It also says that it can mix SIMMS and > DIMMS, using SIMM banks 3-4 and the two DIMM slots (they quote equally > loaded, but I don't know whether it is necessary, or whether it reflects > availability of DIMMS at that time). > > Current video - VidelExcel S3 > ---- > Proposed changes - > > Diamond graphics card + Voodoo accelerator (I don't know whether this is > the same Voodoo card that Ronald meant - it may be earlier) which appears > to have > chipsets labelled 3Dfx. > > Realtek NIC > > 128Mb DIMM - I presume no-one is going to recommend keeping the 64Mb SIMMS? > ---- > > Any comments/suggestions welcomed - even if it is 'forget it' :-) > > Anne > > > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- - >- ---- > > > Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? > Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
