On Wednesday 29 December 2004 20:18, you wrote: > (I'm re-posting this because the previous one was dated > 11 Aug 2003 (due to that BIOS problem) and may well get > buried under the more "recent" messages.) > > My motherboard is messed up, and it's time for me to replace it. > I don't want to do this again soon, so I'm looking for opinions > that may lead me to a *reliable* system. > > What I have now: > ECS EliteGroup "K7S5A Pro" ATX, SiS735 chipset -- BAD. > 512 GByte DDR RAM -- Apparently OK. > AMD Athlon XP 1800+ CPU, 1.53 GHz -- Apparently OK. > Fitted with a big ol' Volcano fan. > > What I want from this machine: It is is running Win98, > dual booted with Red Hat 8. I want to replace RH8 with > a new distro for mostly desktop use, rather than caving > in and buying XP Home. Win98 is almost past toleration, > since it's weak on USB and doesn't seem to properly > support really big disk partitions. I think the Linux > desktop is almost "down" to my level in terms of > friendliness to a non-sysadmin techie. > > The old MOBO won't recognize my new thumb drive (yes, I > did install the driver); won't tolerate *any* CD device; > has a new problem with losing CMOS settings, and the > trend says I might be off the air tomorrow. > > I *think* I just want to replace the board, with something > that I can stay with for as long as possible. > > I also want to avoid spending more than about $100. > > I've been offered two deals: > ASUS X Series, $89. The folks at Computer Renaissance say > they have found this board quite solid. > Gigabyte Technology - $75, at PC Club. > > Any input will be greatly appreciated. > > Thanks, > > Vic > Vic, I have a Soyo Dragon KT333 and and an AOpen AK77, both ordered from mwave.com. Both have been pretty good. The Soyo has some minor problems- sometimes it hangs on a software reset and needs to be powered down. (But since I run only LInux on it that problem doesn't happen too often.) Vaughn > --------------------------------------------------- > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change you mail settings: > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss --------------------------------------------------- PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change you mail settings: http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss