[ale] Pentium Pro boards and Linux

[Jeff Hubbs]

Whoa, I'm confused - what is it that you actually have?  What are you
going to do with two Pentium MMX 166 CPUs once you get the dual Pentium
Pro motherboard??

In 1996 I build a dual PPro 200 system for NT using a Tyan mobo.  I did
have a couple of problems.  The RAM that was shipped with it just wouldn't
work with all 4 SIMMs in.  Motherboard Superstore kindly replaced the RAM
and all was well.  I also ran into a problem when I added an Adaptec
AHA3940UW card - the B channel wouldn't work.  It turned out to be a BIOS
issue - MBSS sent me an EPROM with a different BIOS and the 3940 worked
like it was supposed to.  The machine was very reliable after that and is
still buzzing along, as I'm told.

Oh, one issue that I had was that the power module for one of the CPUs was
located such that I had to pull out the lower drive bay in the full tower
case I bought, thereby costing me some slots.

I'd dare say that a dual PPro 166 would make a better server than a single
Pentium 200, by a long shot.  Even with just one PPro 200, you'd be better
off.  There was a big difference between the Pentium and Pentium Pro.

- Jeff

Jeff Dilcher wrote:

> I recently acquired a couple of Pentium mmx 166 processors, and was
> thinking about building a Pentium Pro linux machine.  A few questions:
>
> 1) I currently have a p200 linux box.  Would a Pentium Pro systerm
> with
> dual 166 processors perform better as a server?
> 2) Can anyone recommend a good, and (hopefully) cheap P Pro
> motherboard?
> 3) Anything I should look for when getting a new Ppro board?
>
> Thanks much!