[svlug] Re: svlug digest, Vol 1 #641 - 13 msgs

[Dagmar d'Surreal]

On Wed, 28 Mar 2001, Kedar N Patankar wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> I am new to this list and bay area. I am trying to rebuild my home PC and am
> looking for a CPU/mobo + box. I saw some good looking deal at Fry's that has
> a Via 694 chipset for AMD CPUs. I have never used any AMD CPU or Via chipset
> mobo before. Can someone kindly provide me some info about which VIA chipset
> is well supported on linux? And any good place where I can get good deals on
> barebones system (other than Fry's)???

You're making this more complex an issue than it really needs to be.  The
694 chipset isn't a part of the machine that Linux has to worry about, so
the issue of "compatibility" is moot.  You might have issues getting
whatever IDE controller is built into the motherboard to run at full speed
using DMA modes, but it will work at normal speeds without a fight all on
it's own.

...and considering that I've heard a number of bad things about how Fry's
deals with RMA-ing bad equipment, I'll suggest using pricewatch.com over
Fry's just about any day.

The only serious caveat (and the same one applies to both Fry's and
Pricewatch) is _know what are looking for *before* you try to find it
cheap_.  For instance, when I built my last desktop machine in December, I
did a bunch of research on the overclocker sites looking for motherboards
that had a reputation of stability at higher speeds.  It came down to an
Abit-KT7 or the Asus-A7V.  For various reasons I chose the Asus A7V, and
then went rummaging through Pricewatch.  I got one for $120, and a 900Mhz
Thunderbird to go in it for a bit less than that.  I probably _could_ have
just tried looking for combos for cheap, but would have wound up with a
much less stable machine as a result.

Basically, if you don't *know* what you're buying, expect it to suck and
be generally unreliable at any price.  Figure out what you _want_, read
the kernel documentation and a few HOWTOs to see if you can enough of the
nifty features (Linux will run on just about *anything*...  You are not
going to find an x86 barebones that it simply won't run on unless you are
_really_ scraping the bottom of the refurb barrel) it might have to make
it worth the cash you're likely to shell out, and then go find someplace
that looks somewhat reputable to buy from.