> >it'll work. my only concern is that i'm not certain that the linux
> >triton driver recognizes and supports DMA busmastering with the 440LX
> >chipset's integrated EIDE controller. 2.0.32 and 2.0.33 don't appear
> >to. it's a relatively easy patch to make it work, probably, and there
> >may be one out there. this is purely a performance issue, though, and
> >linux will work with this board.
>
> A good point. I don't expect that performance will be a big deal
> overall as this is a high-end system, but it's things like this that I
> wanted to get some opinions on. There is no point getting a fast system
> and then crippling it because of something like this. Will certainly look
> into the bus mastering . . . this is always a pain, even with 95/NT on
> certain boards.
DMA busmastering is a Very Good Thing and you definitely want to use
it if you can. under linux, a good DMA capable EIDE drive like the
seagate or fuji 6.4 GB will give many SCSI drives a run for their
money both in terms of thruput and low CPU utilization.
unfortunately, i don't have access to an LX-based machine where i can
test directly whether the 440LX is recognized and supported. the 430MX
is supported and is newer so i wonder if the 440LX gets recognized as
a 440FX or something. when you get it, you may want to grab the latest
2.0.33 kernel from ftp.varesearch.com and see if that helps.
>
> >> 64MB SD RAM (2 x 32MB DIMM)
> >
> >why not 1 DIMM?
>
> $40 more for a single 64 as opposed to 2 32's. I guess that given the
> overall system it wouldn't make a big difference, but I figured I might as
> well have the $40 as the vendor.
oh. that's pretty dumb. i know that used to be the case, but had hoped
the price differential between 2x32 and 1x64 had decreased since
then. guess not.
> Thanks for the feedback, Tim (and to all others who responded.) I do
> 95/NT support for a living, but am new to Linux. I want to learn Unix so I
> don't live and breathe Microsoft the rest of my life. And, I don't want to
> have to fight with hardware compatibility issues for the next month. I've
> spent too many years doing just this on DOS/WIN-311/95/NT systems and I'd
> like to concentrate on the software. I suspect that with the few minor
> changes you've all suggested, this system will be "plug and play" with
> Linux.
linux is as happy as the hardware it's run on. it may take a little
messing around to get the latest kernel and XFree going to make full
use of the HW, but once done you'll be quite satisfied.
tim
--
Time is like fingers A | Tim Pickering ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Gesturing for me to stop -- Quake | UA Steward Observatory
Why is the sun up? Haiku | Tucson, AZ 85721 520-621-6523
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