Very Computer

Hi,

I've been looking for a new motherboard to upgrade my P100 and the
picture that's starting to form is not very pretty.  It seems that most
(if not all) current motherboard designs are supporting a lot of PCI
slots and only two ISA slots.  I just got a nice bonus at work and I
want a 300MHz PII / 128 meg. NOW :-).

I need 4 ISA slots: SB-AWE64, GTEK BlackBoard-4, USR modem, and a cheapy
NE-2000 NIC.  I can get an MB with the NIC on it, but that still leaves
three boards to go on.  It'd be cool if someone made a motherboard which
allowed sharing a single IRQ for the onboard serial ports.

Does any body have any suggestions? Is there a collection of motherboard
info on the net anywhere?  (Would it be worthwhile to start one?)

(BTW,  I _do_ know that manufacturers are moving to PCI because it
eliminates a lot of problems you find on the ISA bus, it's faster, etc.)

--
Robert Wuest, PE               Empowered
Sirius Engineering Company            by

RW> picture that's starting to form is not very pretty.  It seems that most
RW> (if not all) current motherboard designs are supporting a lot of PCI
RW> slots and only two ISA slots.

Microsoft dictates that in a certain future, a PC must not have ISA in
order to get a certain Microsoft sticker. wonderful. NOT.

About your problem, back in the time before the Slot-1 hype, Tyan was known
to make boards with loads of slots. I still run one with 5xISA, 4xPCI and
8xPS/2-Memory. (Tomcat)

Maybe you investigate current Tyan boards closer, perhaps they have such
a beast with a Splat-1.

You know there are el-cheapo PCI-NE2000 nic's?

--

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     But let your communication be Yea, yea; nay, nay:    -- Matthew 5:37
     for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.       on computers

Quote:> Maybe you investigate current Tyan boards closer, perhaps they have such
> a beast with a Splat-1.

Bob Taylor,

[...]

Quote:> Does any body have any suggestions? Is there a collection of motherboard
> info on the net anywhere?  (Would it be worthwhile to start one?)

"Tom's..." and "...Anand..." are my favorites.

Otherwise, look at
      http://www.anandtech.com
and   http://www.tomshardware.com

And look for the mainboard reviews. You may also find something
on www.zdnet.com.

Itai
--

Just to be a jerk, and show how awful software guys can be, are you talking
about really really small ISA cards or using fewer of them? ;-)

Grammar teacher to the stars.

RM T> What in blazes is a Splat-1? Sounds like a paint can falling off a building.

*snicker* I meant a slot-one. You know, that hyped Pentium-II thingie.

--

     PGP fingerprint = 06 5F 66 B3  2A AD 7D 2D  B7 19 67 3C  95 A7 9D AF
     But let your communication be Yea, yea; nay, nay:    -- Matthew 5:37
     for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.       on computers

Well,
I give you an example, I have a network card (ne2000 compatible)
that measures (6"1/4 x 2"1/16)...

Come on, have't they told you that size don't mater?

I mean that if you can use and isa card or a pci card for the
same function, have preference for PCI.
Look at the PC99 spec (start searching from developer.intel.com).
ISA is not part of their spec!

Itai