Very Computer

I'm looking to upgrade my motherboard (currently DX2/66 with
NO WAY of putting a DX4 in :-(

I've heard alot of talk about ASUS motherboards (Intel Triton
chipset) and my local dealer has also recommended the
ASUS PCI/I-P54TP4 motherboard.

Questions:

Q1: Of the 3 options: Burst-Mode, Pipelined-Burst, or
    Asynchronous SRAM, which should I get?

Q2: Is EDO really worth it (vs. 70ns Fast-Page DRAM)?

The dealer also recommended the ASAS PCI-SC200 SCSI controller,
based around the NCR 53C810 chip - probably because the Award
BIOS comes with the NCR PCI SCSI BIOS for the 53C810.

I've noticed a number of comments in comp.os.linux.*
about this chip: the linux driver is too alpha; it
doesn't take advantage or the faster memory-map mode, etc.

Q3: Are there REAL barriers to using this chip? What are the
    alternatives?

I would really, really, REALLY appreciate comments from people
who actually OWN this type of motherboard/controller.

Thanks in advance,
--

"...strange women lying in ponds, distributing swords is no basis for a system of
government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not
from some farcical aquatic ceremony!"  (Monty Python's _Holy Grail_)
--

"...strange women lying in ponds, distributing swords is no basis for a system of
government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not
from some farcical aquatic ceremony!"  (Monty Python's _Holy Grail_)

 > I'm looking to upgrade my motherboard (currently DX2/66 with
 > NO WAY of putting a DX4 in :-(
 >
 > I've heard alot of talk about ASUS motherboards (Intel Triton
 > chipset) and my local dealer has also recommended the
 > ASUS PCI/I-P54TP4 motherboard.
 >
 > Questions:
 >
 > Q1: Of the 3 options: Burst-Mode, Pipelined-Burst, or
 >     Asynchronous SRAM, which should I get?
 >
 > Q2: Is EDO really worth it (vs. 70ns Fast-Page DRAM)?
 >
 > The dealer also recommended the ASAS PCI-SC200 SCSI controller,
 > based around the NCR 53C810 chip - probably because the Award
 > BIOS comes with the NCR PCI SCSI BIOS for the 53C810.

There seems to be another problem with the SC200. I have read in the PCI-HOWTO
that it is not possible to boot Linux from a SCSI disk with the SC200. Some
people have added an extra IDE disk to boot Linux. I don't quite understand the
problem, since a driver for the NCR53c810 is included! Since I also intend to
buy a Triton board and the SC200 from ASUS, I am very interested in a solution
to this problem! (i.e. how to *BOOT* Linux from a SCSI disk connected to the
SC200, on a system that has only SCSI storage devices)

 >
 > I've noticed a number of comments in comp.os.linux.*
 > about this chip: the linux driver is too alpha; it
 > doesn't take advantage or the faster memory-map mode, etc.
 >
 > Q3: Are there REAL barriers to using this chip? What are the
 >     alternatives?
 >
 > I would really, really, REALLY appreciate comments from people
 > who actually OWN this type of motherboard/controller.
 >

I, too, would REALLY appreciate comments and experiences from these people!

Andreas.

 > Thanks in advance,
 > --

 > "...strange women lying in ponds, distributing swords is no basis for a system of
 > government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not
 > from some farcical aquatic ceremony!"  (Monty Python's _Holy Grail_)
 > --

 > "...strange women lying in ponds, distributing swords is no basis for a system of
 > government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not
 > from some farcical aquatic ceremony!"  (Monty Python's _Holy Grail_)

A lot of information in the PCI-HOWTO seems to be archaic (which seems
to mean a matter of months).  Many people boot off the SC200, which has
worked for booting since 1.1.59, at least.  Make sure you have the
latest version of your BIOS.  Recent upgrades to the SCSI software
appear to push on some outdated BIOSes which used to work.

Bruce

--

Carnegie Mellon Computer Science        (412)268-7673
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~lowekamp/home.html