Date: Tue, 15 Aug 1995 22:56:59 -0700 (PDT) From: "Rodney W. Grimes" <rgrimes@gndrsh.aac.dev.com> To: craigh@msn.fullfeed.com (Craig A. Heilman) Cc: freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org Subject: Re: SCSI controller questions??? Message-ID: <199508160556.WAA18582@gndrsh.aac.dev.com> In-Reply-To: <v02120d00ac56c7e0078b@[199.184.183.2]> from "Craig A. Heilman" at Aug 15, 95 09:22:14 pm
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> > Hi all, Hello, and since no one else has responded to you, I will :-). > I'm in the process of setting up my PC to run FreeBSD (I'll probably buy > the Walnut Creek CD-ROM) and I have a few hardware questions. Here's my > current hardware configuration: > > Magitronic full-tower PC with GA-486VS motherboard I have qualified the Gigabit GA-486VS motherboard for FreeBSD operation in systems I sell. I no longer use it due to it being unavaliable (Gigabit obsoleted all 486 MB's about 30 days ago :-(). It works, and works well. > 486/DX2-80 CPU > 8 MB RAM (should I upgrade to 16 for X-windows?) Yes, I would recomenend that if you are going to run X windows you upgrade to 16MB of memory. > 256 KB level-2 cache > 3 VL-Bus (VESA) slots > 3 AT-Bus (ISA) slots > 1 XT-Bus (?) slot I don't know why they did this, guess they ran out of room on the board :-(. > AWARD Bios > > BI-711A VL-Bus graphics card (uses Cirrus CL-GD5428) driving a 15" monitor Unknown product to me, but Cirrus chips are well known in the industry, supported by XFree86. > PTI-255W VL-Bus Super I/O Card > uses Winbond W83759F, W83757AF, W83758P chipset > 540 MB IDE hard drive (up to 3 additional supported) > FDD floppy, HDD floppy > 2 serial ports, 1 game port, 1 parallel port Unknown product to me. But again, the chips are well known, and I have not heard or seen any bad things from the Winbond W837XX chip set. > 3Com 3C501 Ethernet adapter (free from a friend) Free is a very nice price, but this is unsupported by FreeBSD :-(. It is an old old old DMA type ethernet card. Throw it in the garbage can and go spend $45 on a decent NE2000/WD8013 clone card. I recomend the Compex Freedom line run in NE2000 mode for minimal fuss on the ISA bus. > I want to get a SCSI controller to use with the following devices: > 4mm DAT drive (APS) CNR4326 or HP1533 is my current recommendations here, the Conner drive is really an Archive drive, but Conner bought Archive some time back. This particular model is constantly on allocation so I am in the process of switching to the slightly more expensive, but readily avaliable HP1533. > CD-ROM drive (recommendations?) For caddy type drives, I recomend the NEC 4Xi, for caddyless drives the toshiba XM5301. > additional hard drives (recommendations?) Depends on capacity desired. > > I would like to be able to boot into DOS/Windows/FreeBSD so would it be > wise to get another hard drive? Depending on how much DOS/Windows vs FreeBSD space you would want. > If so, should I partition each hard drive for a separate OS? Given that you add a second hard drive, yes, I would recomened you keep the OS's on there own disks. > I've read that the IDE drive has to be the boot drive > (Adaptec literature) - can I put a minimal FreeBSD boot partition on the > IDE drive but use a SCSI drive as the main drive (I'm assuming that a SCSI > drive will be faster)? You can even just use a boot selector on the first IDE hard drive and have _all_ of FreeBSD on the second drive. > Should I get a VL-Bus version SCSI controller or an > ISA version (I'm assuming it would be faster/more efficient in the VL-Bus > slot)? VL-Bus controllers are generally faster than ISA based cards. Note that the VL-bus is rapidly become a dead horse. Your VL scsi card will have to be replaced if upgrading to a Pentium class machine is in your future. I know there are VL/PCI/ISA bus Pentium MB on the market, but that is rapidly going away in favor of pure PCI/ISA boards. > Since I already have the I/O card, I suppose I just need a basic > SCSI host card right? Yes, that is correct. > If you have a specific card that you think would fit my needs, feel free to > recommend one (I've been looking at Adaptec & Buslogic). If you also want > to recommend a distributer/dealer to buy from... Either an Adaptec 1542CF for the ISA bus, or a BusLogic 445C for the VL bus. I carry the Adaptec, use to carry the BusLogic, but am currently not carrying any buslogic products. I do not recommend myself as a distributor for this single board sale, there is insignificant margin in this product for me to deal with it on the board level sales scale. Carefull shopping for a local reputable company would be your best bet! -- Rod Grimes rgrimes@gndrsh.aac.dev.com Accurate Automation Company Reliable computers for FreeBSD
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