On Sat, 24 Feb 2001 00:36:44 -0500, you wrote:

>
>Date:    Fri, 23 Feb 2001 01:53:55 -0500
>From:    Bob Castorf <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Motherboard w/i815 and Dual Pentium III Support
>
>I am getting ready to build a dual Pentium III system which will run various versions of LINUX 24/7.  The primary purpose of this machine, at least initially, will be to conduct an in-depth study of LINUX internals.
>
>  The ABIT VP6 motherboard looks like a good candidate for me, but I have serious concerns over the VIA Apollo Pro 133A chipset.  Several articles I've read indicate that this chipset does not support LINUX very well.  I would like to hear about the experiences (good or bad) of anyone who has run LINUX on this VIA chipset.

Linux works OK on single CPU  VIA chipset boards but the ABIT VP6 is
more than a little bleeding edge. If you want to study and play with
hardware  and exotic issues  for a hotrod home system and are more
impressed with low price than your time  this would be a good choice.
Expect an uphill struggle. The two systems I know with this board are
still being fiddled with.  They are having fun though. :)

If you just really want to study Linux rather than Linux on hardware
that is in advance of it  then  use a more conservative motherboard.

>  The Intel 815 chipset seems to be my ideal choice, but I'm having trouble locating a motherboard with i815 and dual Pentium III support.  Does anyone know of such a board?

Intel 815 chipset is deliberately designed to be feature crippled so
as not to compete with intel chipsets for servers. For instance it has
no ECC support and a maximum of 512K RAM. However the intel server
chipsets to replace the BX didn't turn out so good. Mot clearly better
than BX440.

The 815 probably does not support SMD at all or too well. Certainly it
was never intended too.  This is not to say that someone might
eventually make such a board though I haven't seen or heard of it.  

A single CPU 815 board works fine for Linux or BSD

In the absence of  new Intel dual CPU boards that don't use RAMbus
RIMM many serious new servers and dual CPU workstations use
Serverworks ServerSet III LE Chipset. These do not have an AGP video
support. One home workstation user with such a mainboard  is here is
using a PCI Voodoo 5 5500 and another a CAD user is using an "old"
Elsa Gloria Synergy (1) because of its superb  HEIDI support.
Graphics performance is excellent in both and the PCI Voodoo 5 is an
up to date game card  that holds its own actually.

So far the VIA based dual CPU boards are not trusted around here for
production servers. Hobbyists and fiddlers like them because of the
great price, the laundry list of features and the challenge.

Personally I still recommend BX chipset dual Pentium III boards. First
the chipset is a classic that  has not yet been clearly supplanted and
they are extremely stabile.
 
Its easy to expect way too much from faster BUS speed and AGP 4X and
ATA66  and ATA100 IDE,  IDE RAID.  In my experience these things don't
yet make much actual difference.

If you want an ultra stable dual pentium  system compatible with all
OSes suitable for a personal workstation  BX chipset mainboard  works
fine.   

Go with one LVD 18GB 1000RPM SCSI (Fujitsu or IBM) for your OSes.
That's plenty big. And use a large IDE 7200RPM (IBM) for storage
downloads and stuff. Don't worry that you run the ATA100  IDE at ATA33
that's about as fast as it can get data off the platters anyway.  Put
the IDE in a mobile rack (inexpensive removable drive drawer). 
Make sure your CD burner is  top quality and SCSI like a Plextor.

Most home builders going dual CPUs seem to be more interested in and
impressed by  features like 133MHz Bus, slightly faster CPUs, ATA100,
IDE RAID, 4XAGP, larger hard drives.

However they would be better to spend their money on
conservative stability, high performance SCSI hard drive and expensive
SCSI  controller, SCSI burner. 

For massive extra storage mixed IDE / SCSI systems work fine. After
all an IDE drive easily keeps up with downloads and the like.

As for Linux it LOVES the  slightly older, proven technology!!!

It really depends what you like fiddling with. Hardware or software.

A late revision Asus P2B-D would be fine!

Mark Paulson

California, USA

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