From: vielo@stein.u.washington.edu (Michael Orr)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux
Subject: zenon/gateway/toughcom Linux-X SUMMARY
Date: 22 Dec 92 06:28:40 GMT
Article-I.D.: u.1992Dec22.062840.22222
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle

A little while ago I posted asking for information on running Linux-X
on a 486/33-vesa from Gateway, Zenon or Toughcom, because I was
looking at getting one of these machines.  Here is a summary of my
responses:

TOUGHCOM -- No response from anybody who had one.  The company also
confirmed that is does not yet offer a machine with a vesa local bus.

ZENON -- One person reported success running Linux-X on a Zenon 486/33
Local Bus ET4000 (8MB/200MB, $2080);  this is Brent Benson
brent@amber.sad.cad.harris.com.  Another person (whom I shall not name
to protect from possible flamage) was considering both Zenon and
Gateway, decided against the Zenon because he thought their video card
"wasn't much" and the sales rep was "obnoxious, ignorant, and rude."
He recommended, "make sure you ask who makes their mother board, what
chipset they use, and which BIOS."  My experience talking to a Zenon
sales rep was he seemed to be at a loss to explain specifics on the
hardware, or to answer why he thought his system was better than the
others.

GATEWAY -- I received several positive replies.  One person has a
486/66 DX2 that Linux-X could run on, another had a 486/33 which he
said runs "pretty speedy, and the video looks very good and fast, even
under X", although there is some flakiness in the ATI drivers under
MS-Windows.  A third person complained that he had to wait 8 hours on
hold for GW's tech support and ended up going with another company.  A
fourth person was running Linux 98p11 on a 486sx/25 VL ATI Ultra Pro;
he said "X works fine, except it's a little slow with only four megs.
The Ultra Pro is a real screamer.  I'm very pleased with the whole
system."  A fifth person, Ismail Arit (iarit@slate.mines.colorado.edu)
has a 486/33 running Linux-X and he has recently posted to the net an
XConfig for the ATI Ultra Pro.  I can mail it to anyone who needs it,
although I haven't been able to test it yet.  A sixth person published
to the CONFIG channel his success story on a 486/66 DX2.  

Besides these, I received five replies from people who are in the
market for a computer and curious about what my summary was.

I decided to go ahead and order the Gateway D486/33V (I think is the
model -- I don't have the ad in front of me)with a 64-to-256K cache
upgrade for $45.  They have a three-week-wait, so I won't get to see
the computer till January.  My biggest reason for going with the
Gateway is that I want to know I can find people with similar hardware
in case any weird incompatability problems arise.  If anyone else has
or is getting a Gateway and would like to e-correspond about
installing/running Linux with-or-without X on it, my mbox is open. 

I also discovered the CONFIG mailing-list channel, where people
publish their experience with various hardware.  If someone is in the
midst of deciding which machine to buy, this may be a good list to
monitor.  I will publish my own experience there in mid-to-late
January.  I may or may not repost it to comp.os.linux;  if I do, it
will have a "Subject: Gateway ... " on it, since that's the hardware
-- 

 -Mike Orr   (vielo@u.washington.edu)