The fun of reorganizing a PC

[was_jlh]

Re:

Sounds nice, Charles.

 

[was_jlh]

The heading messed up, hopefully this will bring it back.

 

[LukeK]

I understand all about the income issues Charles. It took me a while to save for the PC I'm using now. Anyhow, will you really need all 4 GB for 3d CGI? I dabble in 3D modeling also but I'd never need 4GB. You must be modeling on a much grander scale than me. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

 

[Charles Bradshaw]

Binky, I don't trust System OEMs, like Dell. These companies pawn off junk to unsuspecting consumers, as Consumer PCs, and, these are not upgradable. Chaintech has been around a while, and is a respected motherboard manufacturer. PC architecture is Open Architecture. Besides, in building your own, you can select very high quality parts. Also, the real benefit of building your own Standards Compliant PC, is that you know everything that is inside it, and you don't need to depend on expensive, and sometimes useless phone support.

LukeK, I am also looking at VMWare, which is less expensive than I thought. If that can do more than 128 MB per session, then it will be a better alternative than Win4lin.

 

[Charles Bradshaw]

This motherboard comes with a Cbox, which has 4 USB 2.0 connectors, Mic, headphone, and mounts in a 3.5 inch floppy drive bay. I just took a look at the cables for it, and I can use it on my current motherboard to connect 2 of the USB ports.

 

[was_jlh]

Luke, any progress? Still haven't seen the email.

Joe

 

[Charles Bradshaw]

Yesterday I purchased a Maxtor 160 GB ata133 hdd, via eBay for $102 US, including S & H. It is due to arrive here tomorrow, the 10th. I am going to be going to linux native boot, only.

Yes, I am going to use my current ASRock mobo and Athlon XP1700+, until, I get the remaining parts for the Chaintech 7VJL Linux system (which will take a while). My drive setup will be:

hda: Maxtor 61 GB ata100 /, swap, /usr, and one or two other partitions.

hdb: Maxtor 160 GB ata133 /home only

hdc: Maxtor 61 GB ata100 /archives for windows and linux stuff

hdd: Cyberdrive 16x12x40x cdrw drive (burner) in ide-scsi emulation.

What this means is no chance of infection by windows viruses or infestation by windows worms. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I am going to have fun this weekend, and the file system will likely be reiserfs.

 

[Charles Bradshaw]

Well, I got my maxtor 160 GB ata133 hdd this afternoon. Time for system rebuild! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Charles Bradshaw]

[GROAN]: I just got done burning 25 CDROMS! Only one was burned from Mandrake Linux 9.1. The other 24, are everything to be saved from Windows.

Just think, after I redo all of the partitions (all native linux), I get to copy all of these back. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Charles Bradshaw]

Well, I am now on my Linux box, with the ASRock K7VT2 motherboard. I did learn one thing about this mobo + Promise Ultra100 pci eide controller + Mandrake Linux: Mandrake like to put the Promise card first, while the mobo bios likes to put it second. I did not have this problem with my old Gigabyte mobo, Promise card, and Mandrake.

I was so hopeful, that I would have 2 x 60 GB WDs, 2 x 61 GB Maxtors, 1 x 160 GB Maxtor, cd burner, and cdrom. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif I had this full tower case stuffed with 7 eide drives, too. Oh well, something useful learned from this experiment.

I also learned that that I can set 32 bit eide drive access and specific udma mode for each eide drive in BIOS! No EZbios needed.

Reworking a PC can be alot of fun, even learn something in the process. Like I need to find out if Mandrake would put the 2 controllers on the correct order or not, and not have a problem with mobo bios and the controller order. Since this ASRock is made by Asus Group, I was not surprised.

 

[Charles Bradshaw]

Update

Now that I have both a cpu and ram for the Chaintech 7VJL Deluxe Apogee motherboard, I will be rebuilding my computer.

I decided to go with less than ideal cpu and memory (for me), in order to make sure everything works properly, including the Promise Ultra100 with Mandrake and the chaintech mobo.

Primarly, I felt the need to test the mobo before investing lots of money in the highest cpu and ram this mobo can handle. Better to learn in a less painful manner that something doesn't work, than after one has shelled out over $1,000 and learn the hard way.

After I get some things copied to my /home partition, it will be time to rebuild.

Presuming everything works, I can devote more money to getting a Yukon HL, LS4, and possibly Impact XL, then do a leisurely upgrade to my preferred system (ram, cpu, hdds, etc.). /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Charles Bradshaw]

Well, everything seems to work. I didn't see any messages to the effect of 'unrecognized southbridge' while booting mandrake after install. The real test of this, will be when I pull my pci ethernet and SB PCI 128 cards, enable the onboard ones and go for install again.

Running Chaintech 7VJL Deluxe Apogee, Athlon XP2500+, and 4 x 256 MB DDR333 ram modules. Also have dualboot again (need my game fix now and then).

Only thing I still have a problem with, is the Promise Ultra100 pci eide controller. Not unexpected, though I was hoping. Could be that I need to go with a pci ata133 card for things to work right.

 

[Charles Bradshaw]

Well, this Chaintech board is fully compatible with Mandrake Linux 9.1 and no kernel update or patch is needed.