Update on Emmy's computer
2003-07-21 06:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mdlbearHaving determined that the problem was almost certainly the motherboard (I remembered seeing a note on a Linux website that certain Promise IDE controllers scribble randomly into low memory, and I've seen symptoms that match that), I finally went down to a surplus joint and spent $70 on a Jetway V6FP.
At first it wasn't clear that it would support the 700MHz Duron CPU that I had -- it was only spec'ed to work for 800MHz and above. And indeed, when I first turned it on, I got a blank screen. Resetting the bus-speed jumper from 133MHz to 100MHz (supposedly the default, but who knows?) got a boot screen, a Linux boot sequence, a long sequence of
If only Windows was that simple! Alas, if Jetway's install disk has ever been seen by a QA person, said person should be made to use it with Windows 98 a few dozen more times before being introduced to Knoppix. With any luck their head would explode at that point. Windows is still only marginally useful after a reinstall, a dozen or reboots, many false starts, and about three hours.
At first it wasn't clear that it would support the 700MHz Duron CPU that I had -- it was only spec'ed to work for 800MHz and above. And indeed, when I first turned it on, I got a blank screen. Resetting the bus-speed jumper from 133MHz to 100MHz (supposedly the default, but who knows?) got a boot screen, a Linux boot sequence, a long sequence of
kudzu prompts for the new hardware, a gdm login screen, and a very happy Mandelbear.If only Windows was that simple! Alas, if Jetway's install disk has ever been seen by a QA person, said person should be made to use it with Windows 98 a few dozen more times before being introduced to Knoppix. With any luck their head would explode at that point. Windows is still only marginally useful after a reinstall, a dozen or reboots, many false starts, and about three hours.
