RE: [SLUG] Hardware recommendation
As usual, the slug mailing list is an amazing source of information. Thanks everyone for your response. The comments from Ken effectively summarise why I am intending to use the onboard nic (no fan etc). I have an existing firewall box which is performing quite nicely (P166, DFE-530, 3Com 3c905) but generates the normal amount of noise that an AT case with a few fans does. Therefore there is a little resistance (putting it nicely) to the concept of leaving the machine on all the time. I've looked around and found a case that looks small and quiet (Aopen H300 if anyone is interested). Asus make a FlexATX board with the onboard 8139 (and everything else). My idea is to use this with another 8139 as the firewall (floppy, 5400rpm hard drive and no cd or anything else). Hopefully this should be quiet enough to be ignored. And yes, the box will be stupidly over-specced for firewall purposes but it should make a good seti@home machine (watching the heat levels of course). Thanks again all, Nicholas (BTW, using yahoo and the digest makes quoting mail rather difficult). __ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - Buy the things you want at great prices! http://auctions.yahoo.com/ -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ More Info: http://slug.org.au/lists/listinfo/slug
[SLUG] Hardware recommendation
Hi all, /de-lurk I'm putting together a new Linux firewall box for bigpond cable and am having fun trying to decide between two motherboards. Doing the relevant googling and archive searches, I have ended up with two choices: 1. An Asus board with an onboard Realtek 8139. 2. An Aopen board with an onboard Intel 82559. The case I'm going to use requires a half-height NIC which will be another 8139. I noted in my research that the Realtek is not rated very highly for performance but appears well-supported. The Intel 82559 is supposed to be very good for both speed and support but a few notes in linux-kernel August last year suggested problems with 2.4pre recognising onboard variants. There didn't seem to be any followup after that. For background - the addon card would be plugged into the cable modem, the onboard into a 100 switch. I know that the Aopen board would be the better buy but: 1. An additional $100+ 2. The Asus board has a nice connector for a front monitoring panel. Apologies for the long-winded post - I guess my question boils down to: 1. Is anyone having problems with 1 or 2 8139 cards in the same machine? 2. The Intel seems to be a very popular choice - would it be worth investing in (I know worth is relative but the difference is 128meg of ram g). Thanks for your help. /re-lurk Nicholas __ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - Buy the things you want at great prices! http://auctions.yahoo.com/ -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ More Info: http://slug.org.au/lists/listinfo/slug
