From: ag173@yfn.ysu.edu (Jay Hauben) Subject: help with system to run unix Date: 28 Aug 1993 23:30:50 GMT
A friend is looking to buy a computer system. She has limited
money (under $1400). She is doing research and writing for a book
about the net. She wants to use UNIX tools for this but also has
files now in DOS format. She wants a system that will
successfully run some form of UNIX with uucp and also run DOS.
She would also want at some point to get a Usenet news feed via
uucp using the computer system she is looking to buy now.
She has been quoted a price for a system at the upper limit of
what she can afford. The system consists of the following
components. Does anyone see in this system anything that would
prevent her needs from being met? Might any of the components be
too weak for what she wants to do? The forms of UNIX she might
have available are Minix (which appears not to have uucp) and off
the net Linux. She has a 2400 baud modem now and hopes to upgrade
it and maybe buy a CD-ROM player and controller some time in the
future when she is in a position to afford them.
The system she has the quote for consists of:
1) Intel 486DX/33Mhz
2) Mid height tower case with 230 watt power supply. (Will this
give enough power and enough VENTILATION?)
3) 245 MB hard drive by Seagate or Maxton. (Is either
preferable?)
4) 128 kB cache (Might she in fact need a 256 kB cache?)
5) 4 MB RAM expandable to 64 MB. (Should she insist on SIMM
chips?)
6) AMI bios and ? motherboard. (Would a Pheonix bios be better?)
7) 3 1/2" and 5 1/4" TEAC floppy drives
8) Pentium Overdrive with Intel (?) chips
9) 14" Acer 34T (SVGA NI) monitor.
10) 101 keyboard
11a) Trident 1 MB SVGA video card with a DC 009 IDE controller
card
or
11b) Genoa IMD VESA local bus graphics card with a VLB IDE
controller card (for about $150 more). (Is there a significant
advantage gained for the extra money even though she doesn't
anticipate doing much graphics?)
12) 2 serial, 1 parallel and 1 game ports
13) DOS and Windows on the hard drive - no disks and no manuals!!
Is there anything in the above system that might prevent her from
successfully running UNIX or handling her DOS files? Is there
anything she should change in order to better insure that her
system might last for a long time?
All responses e-mail or by public post appreciated.