From: amillar@netcom.com (Alan Millar) Subject: Re: Worst possible 386 setup Date: Sat, 3 Jul 1993 00:28:14 GMT
>Well, mine may not be the absolute *worst*, but folks tend to snicker
>at me when I talk about my archaic machine; 'course it set me back
>over $3K when I got it... :-(
>
>- 386-20 with 4MB 80ns RAM, no math coprocessor
>- ~64MB Micropolis hard drive on a WD 1:1 MFM controller; one 5.25" floppy
>- Everex EVGA video board with Magnavox analog (greyscale) monochrome monitor
>- Serial/parallel card: I updated the uarts to 16550A's for modem use
>- No mouse yet, but ``it's in the mail''.
This is about identical to my setup (except mine is a 386sx) and
I love it. The fact I can have a real cron and multitasking and
so on (compared to Dos, of course) makes the performance perfectly
tolerable.
I just set this up a few months ago, and at today's prices it is
much less than $3K :-) I bought the 386sx motherboard for $100,
and 4meg ram for $120. The case, power supply and floppy drives
were from an old AT which are available pretty cheap these days.
It has a CGA monitor driven by an EGA card, both of which are
available QUITE cheap. The CGA doesn't bother me because I use
my HP 2382 terminal for most things instead. I was annoyed by
not having multiple virtual consoles until I found the "screen"
program on sunsite, which even works from dial-up! Anyways,
I got lucky on the hard drive because I got a free Maxtor XT2190
out of a dead Sun-2.
Even if you can't get a free hard drive, it is still pretty cheap.
Is it fast? No. Is it a real hands-on unix machine? Yes.
I'm just impressed that you can do it AT ALL for this cheap.
- Alan
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Alan Millar amillar@bolis.SF-Bay.org __oo \
=___/
But Moses said "Oh, Lord, please send someone else to do it." -Exo. 4:13