From: "Anne Wilson"
I have used them together once or twice, but feel that it is better avoided if you can. What about the DIMM clock speed issue, though? T: Sorry! I forgot that you asked that. The best answer I can give you on whether you really need to buy PC100 memory: If your motherboard manual warns you to use it, as it does in the manual for a MicroStar MS-5169 motherboard, when your CPU bus frequency is 100 MHz, then you must. If your manual does not make any mention of this, the PC100 memory may have been in the system because that was all that was availble at the time. The external bus speed on a 233 MHz processor is 66.6 MHz, so I would think that you should be able to use PC133 memory. I do here, in both of my boxes that use P233 MMX's. I would not suggest mixing chips of different clock speeds. Once again, I have done it and it has worked, and then on other systems not worked. The newer and/or more advanced the motherboard, the greater the possibility that it can handle mixed speeds without a problem. Of course, the system will drop down to the lowest rating installed. Would /swap and /home on 1 drive and the rest on the other be a good configuration? T: I have to chuckle on this question because I am so lazy with this that I usually let Mandrake partition for me. If you do, it will most likely make the second drive your /home partition, dividing up the primary drive as / and /swap. The pros on having seperate partitions for the other critical directories seem moot on such a small drive configuration, but I'm sure there are many others that would have a different opinion. For what you want to do with this box, K.I.S.S. works fine in my book. Mandrake will automatically try to make /swap about 400 MBs for 128 MBs of RAM. It works for me. The rest of the primary drive is enough to squeek in pretty much all that he is going to have horsepower to run (IMHO). The 4 GB /home gives him tons of space to download his updates (and keep them, if he needs them again) or to store his personal stuff. My bad, I think. I meant to imply that it was absolutely average. I don't have the specs, but I could probably get some - it's a Goldstar. T: Goldstar has never been appreciated as quality componentry, but my experience with their goods is that they perform, and keep performing long after the name-band stuff has died and become a memory. However, the only way to know is to see if you can get specs off the manual or find them on the Web. Of all the stuff that you have in a PC, I think frying the monitor has got to be the easiest 'no-no' to accomplish. Then again, I carry my own personal, customized black cloud with me all the time, so who am I to say? ;-) Believe it or not I still have a small drive with Win3.1 on that was once used on this computer. I think the quickest and easiest test would be to put that drive in and check what configuration windows allows. There you are - I knew there was a point to M$'s existance! T: If you can't beat 'em, suck 'em dry for all they can give you! :-D Keep in mind that Win 3.1 can't drive high specs without the drivers being there for the display adapter. If you put the ATi card in, you will need ATi Win 3.x drivers to see what the display can handle. Then you'll have to manually bump the frequency up until it won't display. It's a lot of work to do it in Win 3.x. Lastly, the monitor that I fried not too long ago in Linux had no problems running 1024X768, 24-bit and at a frequncy of 70 Hz in Windows. Linux is notorious for trying to drive refresh rate well beyond 75 Hz, which will kill older monitors. In the absense of specs, I would install without testing X-windows, then deal with it it later in Xconfigurator. With or without specs, you can still use Xconfigurator to manually put your horizontal and vertical frequencies in, or edit the 'XF86Config' file manually with an editor. Could be - my daughters both just want something that works with the minimum of effort, like a hammer or screwdriver. The grandson's 14, artistically gifted, and would like to make a living in computer graphics. He's beginning to realise that the more he knows about computers and the better for his future, although I'm a bit concerned that it's a rarified career. It's funny, though, that he turns to grandma for tech support - I doubt if his friends do. But then younger daughter says I used to embarrass her when she was a teenager, because she could not own up to having a mother who had a Stranglers record! I was never a sheep - even got my MSc after I turned 60 <g> I used to feel lonely when I wanted to discuss tech issues, so this list is a wonderful boost. Anne T: OK, Anne, you are now intmidating me! I wish I had had a gramndma like you. <sigh> And yes, it is lonely not having someone to discuss this stuff with. That's what makes this group so important to all of us. For those of us that haven't learned it all (my hand is raised high on this one!), this is really a great place to spend time. I couldn't care less about owing up to what I don't know, as long as someone is willing to teach me more. As for a future in the computer industry, there will always be room for one more. Starting young is the key, along with the personality to drive him to always want to learn more. However, having you around, to give him loving support is what can make him good or great at it! I have tried to get either of my daughters to bend their carrer desires around computer technology. All that matters to them is that they can browse the Web, download their MP3s and IM their buddies. The rest is 'for everyone else' in their minds! ARGH! Anyway, it seems that you have the making of a 1st-timer. As long as your grandson doesn't expect the world from it, he should enjoy it. You do realize, don't you, that if his mind grabs on to Linux, you will be asking him for help very soon? <giggle> T :-D
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