Notes on some parts
Howto articles
- Setting up alsa on
VIA686A AC97. Personally, I now think ALSA for AC97's too
much trouble
when you can get a decent soundcard for dirt. I had this working
(built on bubble gum and shoestrings),
but then when I upgraded to Redhat 7.2, I
never bothered to set it back up.
-
pci latency info
On building your own (not generally recommended - who do you call
if a part dies? Who tests the combination before you put it in
production? Good for deciding what to choose if you need to replace
a part though.)
Monitors
Commentary on vendors - compatibility and attitude toward linux
Vendors
- Mice
- keyboards
- real keyboards - not
the flimsy things that come with computers these days. Never
purchased from them, but I bought some used units that are, I
believe, the exact same model - I really like them. I honestly
believe I type faster because of the tactile feedback. The
only keyboard I ever liked better was a Wyse that Wyse doesn't appear
to make anymore - at least I haven't seen one on any recent
Wyse equipment. It had great tactical feedback, moderate-muted
noise, low play.
- keytronic
104's are appreciated by many in oclug. Available from
many sources, and perhaps a bit cheaper than the pckeyboards
keyboards
- Dell quietkey keyboards are very nice. They make very little
noise, but return the tactile feedback and truncated pyramid keys
that I like so much. The IBM keyboard I used to use at home
was too noisy for my wife's taste, but she likes my new
quietkey, which I got from ebay. Only thing is, it has those
dang silly "windows keys" on it.
- Penguin. We've
purchased from them a bunch of times; they've worked out well.
- Pogo. Never bought a
system from them, but I might someday
- Aslab 4G pentiums for dirt, SMP AMD
systems. Never bought a system from them, but I might someday.
- PCs for Everyone
sells dual boot machines, windows only, linux only, OSless. We've
purchased 9 machines from them, and they've all worked out great.
Also, they may be the only Microsoft
Gold Level Dealer that also sells Linux (proving it can be done,
and that Dell, Gateway, HP, Compaq and such just aren't trying
hard enough)
- Calfornia Digital
has some sort of
relationship to the former VA Linux. 'Never
bought a system from them. Emphasis on customer support -
naturally that means higher prices than places with no customer
support.
- disklessworkstations.com
has network cards with boot roms and a tiny, inexpensive
X terminal product. Alas, as of Dec 13, 2001, their X terminal
only did 1280x1024x256. At least 16 bpp is really a must, IMO.
- CarbonLinux has some
very inexpensive machines with linux preloaded
- Mobilix:
a survey of linux laptop status
- Inexpensive 1U equipment
- BilSystem - I
got a ~$200 computer from them and have been happy with it.
They're linux aware, the system was sold without an OS (I'm using
FreeDOS and OpenDOS on it), and it came unassembled but everything
went together fine. Only bad thing I know about them so far is
that they spam you after you make a purchase. Note: Have since
found that the machine had bad RAM. I don't know if it was bad
when I got it or not. :(
- QLI - have rackmount, have
desktop, have laptop, linux preinstalled. They purportedly get
their laptops from the same place dell does.
- The
Linux.Org vendor list
- solarlite - they're
promising a small, quiet, sub-$100 linux machine, starting December
2004.
testing hardware
On getting your windows
refund