From: earle@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov (Greg Earle - Gainfully Unemployed)
Subject: The ultimate 386BSD machine?	(FAQ fodder)
Followup-To: comp.unix.bsd
Summary: What is the best, and what is supported?
Keywords: 386BSD
Organization: Gainfully unemployed
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 07:25:12 GMT

I recently downloaded the 386BSD FAQ from agate.Berkeley.EDU and was
somewhat surprised to see that my questions were not addressed at all.

I would like to know if anyone has compiled a list of supported/recommended
PC clone hardware for running 386BSD 0.1++ (will we ever see a 0.2? (-: ) on.

When I started to think about possibly purchasing a system to do this on, I
quickly found myself suffering from Lack Of Information Syndrome (LOIS).  Let
me give some examples:

- I have seen some benchmarks whereby a 486DX2/66 outperforms a 486DX/50.  But
  I saw a posting by Barry Shein that indicated that due to the bus speed on
  the former being only 33 MHz, this would not be a good idea as doing things
  like bitblts in X would be faster on a "native" 50 MHz system.  This seemed
  perfectly reasonable, so it seems that a 486DX/50 is the best idea.  Right?

- I saw a posting from Lynne Jolitz that I believe mentioned that a 32-bit
  disk controller was the best idea.  I have assumed from subsequent postings
  that the Adaptec 1542B is the "controller of choice", no?  OK, but that's
  an EISA board, correct?  But now I'm confused, I thought that 386BSD didn't
  support "EISA machines".  What's the deal?

  As an adjunct to this, I expect Julian to jump in with "But an Adaptec 1742A
  is supported with my new SCSI subsystem ... ".  Fine, but can one get the
  system up first (with it installed) to get to the point where one can
  recompile the kernel with the new SCSI subsystem?

- Of course, all of this begs the more fundamental questions, like
  "SCSI or IDE?" (to which I assume "SCSI" is the more correct answer ... ) and
  what about these new VESA VL-bus systems that I'm seeing described in the
  new Byte, and that I'm seeing advertised in the new Computer Shopper?  Any
  support for these?  (I assume not ... )

- Video card support.  Is that fancy SVGA card with 1Mbyte of video RAM that
  dealer XYZ wants to package into my neophyte's system compatible with XFree86
  or not?  For example, I'd heard the bottom line was "no Diamond Stealth
  support until marriage!" (-:  but then it seems like someone posted a little
  program to do clock twiddling so it would work.  What's the Real Scoop on the
  video cards to buy?  Can I just download vanilla X11 R5, apply the MIT
  patches, and then grab some XFree86 related patches from agate and apply
  those and turn gcc 2.2.2 loose on it, and expect that things will work?  etc.

- External cache.  I had assumed "the more the merrier", like 128K.  But I've
  seen people posting problems with external caches; either 64K or 128K was
  causing problems.  No problems if they turn the cache off, which I assume is
  Not A Good Thing.  What's the scoop on this?

- Serial ports; more trivial, but can I assume nowadays that I don't have to
  ask for NS16550AFN chips, and will get them by default?  (I will want to run
  PPP at 38400 baud over them ... )

Given appropriate answers to the above, does anyone have any particular
recommendations on system packages?  Can one get a system without having
MS-DROSS 5.0 and Windoze 3.1 thrown in?  Is it better - assuming that if one
only wants to run 386BSD and not DOS - to buy "pick-a-part" fashion so that
one doesn't have to pay for DOS and Windows, or is it better to buy a complete
system from one of these gazillion system houses, and consider DOS and Windows
as (unwanted) freebies?  If the latter, does anyone have any recommendations
on particular system houses/systems based on price and/or performance?
Etc., etc.

It seems to me that this type of stuff should be FAQ fodder, but the 386BSD
FAQ struck me as "Well, you've already got the hardware and either have it
up or you're having troubles booting the TinyBSD floppy ... ", instead of
also addressing more preliminary requirements and questions such as the ones
I've posed above.

Any answers to the above would be greatly appreciated.  As someone whose
background has basically been nearly 9 years of Sun experience for the past 10
years, buying one's first Computer Shopper and buying other PC-oriented rags
to get info on things like CPUs and busses and the like quickly proves rather
daunting, and it's hard to separate the wheat from the chaff when you're
trying to determine that ideal 386BSD configuration.

(Please post followups to comp.unix.bsd, which I can actually get to reading
 once in a blue moon (-: )
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd