Mail Archives: opendos/2001/01/29/22:54:21
LeavesI currently have a very old outdated video card. it is a Diamond
Stealth Vram with 1MB memory, ISA S3 card. I wanted a card that would be
fast and would have plenty of memory and able to be used with my current
motherboard and future motherboards. This left out AGP cards. So I
wanted a PCI card and one that would work with Linux Xwindows, NT and
DOS. I happen to run across an MGA millennium Matrox card with 4MB of
RAM brand new and in retail box. The seller had several for sale. These
were not being sold in "DUTCH" but in individual auctions. This is an
older card but will screem in Linux and will do okay in NT. I got the
card for about 50. Just a couple of years ago these were expensive cards
and were well rated, especially for Linux. This card can be upgraded to
8MB on board. It has a small VRAM slot for upgrading to 8MB. Since I am
not a gamer, I didn't see any reason to wait until I got a new MB and
get an AGP card. I had not planned on getting a new MB at this time. I
wanted a newer Video card and a much better monitor than this 14" 8514
tpye Samsung monitor. It's display is lousy st 800x600. Most websites
now require 800x600. Even with large fonts it is lousy.
I had a lot of choices, like ATI Rage, Nvidia, and many others. But the
Millennium was just the perfect one for me. It will go to 1600x1200 and
has (I think) 85Hz refresh rate at this density.
Next I wanted a very, very good monitor. I wantwd at least a 17" monitor
with .22dp. I just happen to run across a seller on ebay auctioning
several Hitachi 19" ,22dp Superscan refurbished monitors with slight
cosmetic defects (like scratches on case and/or yellowed cases.) (The
yellowed cases don't bother me because I smoke and it would get yellowed
anyway and scratches I can live with.) There is a 60 day return on
these. so I bid on and got one for a little under 300 with ship. Most
17" .26dp were going for about this much, so I jumped on it and got one.
These are amoung the very best 19" monitors availble and has a special
sharp focusing capability that others lack. It will go to 1600x1200 at
(I think) 85Hz refresh. It is a multisync monitor which is what I
wanted. (No fixed rate here for me.) This is probably the best 19"
monitor available. There are not very many .22dp monitors being made any
more. This is actually a Gateway VX900 monitor made by Hitachi. Gateway
does not even list them any more. These were sold around 1999. My
current monitor is probably 10 years old (I bought it used over 8 years
ago.) and the only thing I can see wrong with it is that the pin cusion
on the right hand side id off a very little. Most people would not even
notice it. But as a former TV tech, I notice every little flaw. Believe
it or not, we still have an old 12" Apple composit monitor that still
works good. I used it with my VCR for a TV for quite a while when my TV
crapped out. So I figure it should last a few years.
My current sound card is a genuine Sound Blast SB-16 with SCSI-II
controller and ASP compression. But it only has a single 4 pin connector
on it and when I priced the WAV32 daughter boards being auction off for
these (about 15) and I saw a Creative/Ensonic PCI64/es1370 card being
auctioned cheap, I jumped on it. It is a 64 voice legacy card. I must
have legacy cards and there is a module for the es1370 in Linux and will
work with DOS and NT very well. It is also DirectX capable. It's not a
PnP peice of crap but a real sound card with jumpers (although it can be
used as a PnP card if you remove all the jumpers.) So this card will
work with any OS I wish to use. That is very important to me.
It is slightly outdated, but still a very good card and since I am not a
gamer, it is probably more than what I need. It does have 3-4 pin on
board connects for CDROM, Modem, and if I ever wanted one a Radio/TV
card. (stupid waste of money as far as I am concerned.) (As far as I
know they will only work with WINDOZE anyway.) There is also a PCI128,
but I am not sure if it will work with Linux and probably would not be
that much use to me anyway as I am not a gamer and have no base boom box
and other such dumb things. The PCI64 will produce quad sound it I ever
want it. (I might for MP3s.) The card is just the bare card and I got it
for less than 20, so I called Creative Labs and ordered a CD and Manual
for it for about 25.
I don't need the SB SCSI contoller as I have a PCI SCSI-III wide
controller.
So my upgraded system will consist of this:
K6-III+ 450Mhz with 100MHz FSB and 256MB RAM (PC-133 DIMMs) Matrox
Millennium PCI 4MB video card, 64 voice PCI sound card, 56K ZOOM ISA
modem, PCI SCSI-III wide controller, 10mbs el cheapo ISA ethernet card,
19" .22dp monitor, 2.9 GB SCSI-II fast HD, 250MB SCSI tape drive, 345MB
IDE HD, 256MB SCSI Syquest removable cartridge drive, 4X SCSI CDROM
drive, 1.44 and 1.2 floppy drives. This system can also be used as a
file server as well. This system will rival many slower Pentium-III
systems due to the K6-3's internal cache capabilities. This upgraded
system will rival many internet servers.
If I they ever get DSL here at a reasonable price or possibly a decent
cable internet system, I will probably use it as an internet server with
Apache under Linux. By that time I should have 80mbs hard drives and
controller and 100mbs 3-COM LAN card. Who knows by the time they get
around to it here 160mbs drives and controller may be cheap! When you
look at a map of the US and look at New Mexico for internet access, it's
just a black hole! I think tin cans and string would be faster! DSL
around here will cost ne 70 bucks a month for a lousy 256k connect!!!!!
I have seen 768K in other parts of the country for 40 and over 1MB for
50. We don't even have DSL capability where I live and cable here sucks
(Although since Comcast has taken over it is better and they are talking
about going Digital, but by the time it gets here, we will probably be
celebrating the new millennium!!!!!
It is even worse for the Indian Nations, some of them do not even have
phone service. (They probably still have to use smoke signals!!!!)<grin>
(I wonder what their baud rate is!!!!)<grin>
I may be very lucky to get even a 33K connect from a 56K modem. They
just patch wires here and they are using multiplexed lines. (They ran
out of spare pairs here and refuse to invest in new phone cables.) At
least our Governor plans on doing somethimg about this internet mess we
have here.
Total cost:
MB+ CPU FAN Used 113
2-PC-133 128MB DIMMS New 90
K6-3 450Mhz CPU New 54
PCI-64 Sound Card Used 18
Matrox Millennium 4MB video New 51
ZOOM 56K Modem New 54
-------------------------------------------------
Total 380
All components will work with DOS, Linux, NT/2000, WINDOZE 9x, Solaris,
OS/2 and any other OS. This system should scream. (Note WINDOZE 2000
server needs 256MB RAM)
Next I'll get a new printer (probably fast Inkjet) and 80mbs disk system
and a 5.2GB DVD RAM. I'll eliminte the Syquest and IDE drives and after
the DVD RAM drive, the tape drive and CDROM. I'll probably also get one
of those dual 3-1/2 5-1/4 floppy drives and put the 360K floppy back in
and still have space for 4 full height or 8 1/2 height hard drives in
this AT full height case. I can still use the tape drive as I got it
with the external case and power supply. I removed it from the case and
installed it internally because my SB SCSI-II controller did not have an
external connector. It did come with an external terminator that
connects to the daisy chain port.
I also bought a bare Ditto 800 TR-1 external tape drive so that I can
swap large files with my brother's computer. he has a Jumbo QIC-80 tape
drive and the Ditto 800 will read and write to the QIC-80 tapes. It
connects to the parallel printer port. I have to pick up a cable and
plugin power supply for it. I probably have a power supply lying around
that will work with it. It cost me a whole 16 with delivery!<grin>
It's amazing what deals I can find on these auctions!
Pat
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