[parisc-linux] Anyone use a 3c597?

[Kurt Fitzner]

Alan wrote:
>> Would an ISA card be stealing from Peter to pay Paul?  I use my old
> 
> For 100Mbit either EISA or ISA is hopelessly inadequate 8)

Well, I wanted PCI, but my firmware says no.  BTW... does anyone happen
to have access to an old C160 firmware - one before they stopped the
machine from booting if it had a PCI card?  I would love to test out
this purported dino "corruption".

>> PARISC workstations as cheap database servers for low to medium traffic
>> web sites.  
> 
> If you are worried about effectiveness you could replace it with a $5
> pentium era PC instead ;)

If I wanted a $5 pentium, I'd have bought one.  My back will attest they
are built like tanks - they last forever, and I like that about them.
There's no other machine I have access to (ie: at my price point) that I
can absolutely depend on to be able to turn on and forget for a couple
years.  Even at over ten years old, they are the most reliable hardware
I've ever seen.

Beyond that, or maybe because of that, I'm a low-level enthusiast I
guess.  Everyone here must be one of some level, otherwise why bother?
I mean, unless you have an RP8420 or the like, then there's nothing
performance wise in these old machines that can't better be served by
picking up a used PC.  And if you have a machine that is still relevant
by today's performance standards, you're not running Linux on it.

So ya, maybe I'm stirring a tempest in a teapot trying (again) to get
this C160 up and running like I want.  They just get under my skin.  Can
leave them, but never leave them alone.  Call me a geek.