Update my hardware section a bit.

svn path=/head/; revision=3440

handbook/hw.sgml

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-<!-- $Id: hw.sgml,v 1.82 1998-04-30 10:31:04 obrien Exp $ -->
+<!-- $Id: hw.sgml,v 1.83 1998-08-30 15:49:33 jkh Exp $ -->
 <!-- The FreeBSD Documentation Project -->
 
 <!--
@@ -66,11 +66,12 @@ Slippery when wet.  Beware of dog.
   <sect2><heading>Motherboards<label id="hw:mb"></heading>
     <p>For Pentium Pro (P6) systems, I'm quite fond of the
     <htmlurl url="http://www.tyan.com/html/products.html" name="Tyan">
-    S1668 dual-processor motherboard.  It makes a dandy little single
+    S1668 dual-processor motherboard as well as the Intel PR440FX
-    or dual processor system (which is supported in FreeBSD 3.0) and
+    motherboard with on-board SCSI WIDE and 100/10MB Intel
-    the price of the Pentium Pro 180/256K chip has fallen to truly
+    Etherexpress NIC.  You can build a dandy little single or dual
-    affordable levels.  The Pentium Pro remains my favorite processor
+    processor system (which is supported in FreeBSD 3.0) for very little
-    solution server systems (Megahertz ratings aren't everything).</p>
+    cost now that the Pentium Pro 180/256K chips have fallen so greatly
+    in price, but no telling how much longer this will last.</p>
 
    <p>For the Pentium II, I'm rather partial to the <htmlurl
    url="http://www.asus.com.tw" name="ASUS"> <htmlurl
@@ -80,12 +81,8 @@ Slippery when wet.  Beware of dog.
    <p>For Pentium machines, the ASUS <htmlurl
      url="http://www.asus.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Pentium/P55tp4/index.html"
      name="P55T2P4">
-    motherboard appears to be a good choice for mid-to-high range Pentium
+    motherboard appears to be a good choice for a mid-to-high range Pentium
-    server and workstation systems.  You might also wish to investigate ASUS's
+    server or workstation system.
-    <htmlurl url="http://asustek.asus.com.tw/FTP/ASUS/Info/Spec/pvi-486sp3.txt"
-    name="486SP3G"> offering if it's a 486-class motherboard you're looking
-    for (Note:  These have become increasingly hard to get as ASUS apparently
-    no longer manufactures them).
 
     Those wishing to build more fault-tolerant systems should also be sure to
     use Parity memory or, for truly 24/7 applications, ECC memory.  Note
@@ -109,7 +106,12 @@ Slippery when wet.  Beware of dog.
     <p>If you should find that you need more than one SCSI controller in a
     PCI machine, you may wish to consider conserving your scarce PCI
     bus resources by buying the Adaptec 3940 card, which puts two SCSI
-    controllers (and internal busses) in a single slot.
+    controllers (and internal busses) in a single slot.  Note that there
+    are two types of 3940 on the market - the older model with AIC 7880
+    chips on it, and the newer one with AIC 7895 chips.  The newer model
+    requires <htmlurl url="ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/cam" name="CAM">
+    support which is not yet a part of FreeBSD - you have to add it, or
+    install from one of the CAM binary snapshot releases (follow the URL).</p>
 
   <sect2><heading>Disk drives<label id="hw:disks"></heading>
     <p>In this particular game of Russian roulette, I'll make few specific
@@ -118,40 +120,35 @@ Slippery when wet.  Beware of dog.
     allows you to easily migrate drives from server to desktop as falling drive
     prices make it economical to do so.  If you have more than one machine
     to administer then think of it not simply as storage, think of it as a
-    food chain!
+    food chain!  For a serious server configuration, there's not even
-
+    any argument - use SCSI equipment and good cables. :) </p>
-    <p>I do not currently see SCSI WIDE drives as a necessary expense unless
-    you're putting together an NFS or NEWS server that will be doing a lot
-    of multiuser disk I/O.  
 
   <sect2><heading>CDROM drives<label id="hw:jordans-picks:cdrom"></heading>
     <p>My SCSI preferences extend to SCSI CDROM drives as well, and while
-    the <htmlurl url="http://www.toshiba.com" name="Toshiba"> XM-3501B (also
+    the <htmlurl url="http://www.toshiba.com" name="Toshiba"> drives have
-    released in a caddy-less model called the XM-5401B) drive has always
+    always been favorites of mine (in whatever speed is hot that week),
-    performed well for me, I'm now a great fan of the <htmlurl
+    I'm still fond of my good old <htmlurl url="http://www.plextor.com"
-    url="http://www.plextor.com" name="Plextor"> PX-12CS drive.  It's
+    name="Plextor"> PX-12CS drive.  It's only a 12 speed, but it's offered
-    a 12 speed drive with excellent performance and reliability.
+    excellent performance and reliability.</p>
-
-    <p>Generally speaking, most SCSI CDROM drives I've seen have been of
-    pretty solid construction and you probably won't go wrong with an HP or
-    NEC SCSI CDROM drive either.  SCSI CDROM prices also appear to have
-    dropped considerably in the last few months and are now quite competitive
-    with IDE CDROMs while remaining a technically superior solution.  I now see
-    no reason whatsoever to settle for an IDE CDROM drive if given a choice
-    between the two.
 
+    <p>Generally speaking, most SCSI CDROM drives I've seen have been
+    of pretty solid construction and you probably won't go wrong with
+    an HP or NEC SCSI CDROM drive either.  SCSI CDROM prices also
+    appear to have dropped considerably in the last few months and are
+    now quite competitive with IDE CDROMs while remaining a
+    technically superior solution.  I now see no reason whatsoever to
+    settle for an IDE CDROM drive if given a choice between the two.</p>
 
   <sect2><heading>CD Recordable (WORM) drives<label id="hw:worm"></heading>
-    <p>At the time of this writing, FreeBSD supports 3 types of CDR drives
+    <p>At the time of this writing, FreeBSD supports 3 types of CDR
-    (though I believe they all ultimately come from Phillips anyway):
+    drives (though I believe they all ultimately come from Phillips
-    The Phillips CDD 522 (Acts like a Plasmon), the PLASMON RF4100 and
+    anyway): The Phillips CDD 522 (Acts like a Plasmon), the PLASMON
-    the HP 6020i.  I myself use the HP 6020i for burning CDROMs (with
+    RF4100 and the HP 6020i.  I myself use the HP 6020i for burning
-    2.2-current - it does not work with 2.1.5 or earlier releases of the
+    CDROMs (in 2.2 and later releases - it does not work with earlier
-    SCSI code) and it works very well.  See <htmlurl
+    releases of the SCSI code) and it works very well.  See <htmlurl
     url="file:/usr/share/examples/worm" name="/usr/share/examples/worm">
-    on your 2.2 system for example scripts used to created ISO9660
+    on your system for example scripts used to created ISO9660 filesystem
-    filesystem images (with RockRidge extensions) and burn them onto an
+    images (with RockRidge extensions) and burn them onto an HP6020i CDR.</p>
-    HP6020i CDR.
 
   <sect2><heading>Tape drives<label id="hw:tape"></heading>
    <p>I've had pretty good luck with both
@@ -171,40 +168,44 @@ Slippery when wet.  Beware of dog.
     name="Xi Graphics, Inc. (formerly X Inside, Inc)"> then I can heartily
     recommend the <htmlurl url="http://www.matrox.com/" name="Matrox">
     <htmlurl url="http://www.matrox.com/mgaweb/brochure.htm"
-    name="Millenium"> card.  Note that support for this card is also
+    name="Millenium II"> cards.  Note that support for this card is also
-    excellent with the <htmlurl url="http://www.xfree86.org/"
+    very good with the <htmlurl url="http://www.xfree86.org/"
-    name="XFree86"> server, which is now at version 3.3.2.
+    name="XFree86"> server, which is now at version 3.3.2.</p>
 
-    You also certainly can't go wrong with one of
+    <p>You also certainly can't go wrong with one of <htmlurl
-    <htmlurl url="http://www.nine.com/" name="Number 9's"> cards -
+    url="http://www.nine.com/" name="Number 9's"> cards - their S3
-    their S3 Vision 868 and 968 based cards (the 9FX series) also being
+    Vision 868 and 968 based cards (the 9FX series) also being quite
-    quite fast and very well supported by XFree86's S3 server.
+    fast and very well supported by XFree86's S3 server in addition to
+    being extremely cheap, nowadays.  You can also pick up their
+    Revolution 3D cards very cheaply these days, especially if you
+    require a lot of video memory.</p>
 
   <sect2><heading>Monitors<label id="hw:monitors"></heading>
     <p>I have had very good luck with the <htmlurl url="http://cons3.sel.sony.com/SEL/ccpg/display/ms17se2.html"
     name="Sony Multiscan 17seII monitors">, as have I with 
     the Viewsonic offering in the same (Trinitron) tube.  For larger than
     17", all I can recommend at the time of this writing is to not spend
-    any less than U.S. &dollar;2,500 for a 21" monitor or
+    any less than U.S. &dollar;2,000 for a 21" monitor or
     &dollar;1,700 for a 20" monitor if that's what you really
     need.  There are good monitors available in the >=20" range and there
     are also cheap monitors in the >=20" range.  Unfortunately, very few are
-    both cheap and good!
+    both cheap and good!</p>
 
   <sect2><heading>Networking<label id="hw:networking"></heading>
-    <p>I can recommend the <htmlurl url="http://www.smc.com/" name="SMC">
+    <p>I can recommend the Intel EtherExpress Pro/100B card first and
-    Ultra 16 controller for any ISA application and the SMC EtherPower
+    foremost, followed by the <htmlurl url="http://www.smc.com/"
-    or Compex ENET32 cards for any serious PCI based networking.  Both of
+    name="SMC"> Ultra 16 controller for ISA applications and the
-    the PCI cards are based around DEC's DC21041 Ethernet controller
+    SMC SMC9332DST, SMC EtherPower or Compex ENET32 cards for slightly
-    chip and other cards using it, such as the Zynx ZX342 or DEC DE435,
+    cheaper PCI based networking.  In general, any PCI NIC based around
-    will generally work as well.  For 100Mbit networking, either the
+    DEC's DC2104x Ethernet controller chip, such as the Zynx ZX342 or
-    SMC SMC9332DST 10/100MB or Intel EtherExpress Pro/100B cards will do
+    DEC DE435, will generally work quite well and can frequently be
-    a fine job, the Intel EtherExpress generally getting my vote.
+    found in 2-port and 4-port versions (useful for firewalls and
-
+    routers), though the Pro/100B card has the edge when it comes
-    If what you're looking for is, on the other hand, the cheapest possible
+    to providing the best performance with the lowest overhead.</p>
-    solution which will still work reasonably well, then almost any NE2000
-    clone is a good choice.
 
+    <p>If what you're looking for is the cheapest possible solution,
+    on the other hand, then almost any NE2000 clone will do a fine job
+    for very little cost.</p>
 
    <sect2><heading>Serial<label id="hw:serial"></heading>
     <p>If you're looking for high-speed serial networking solutions, then