[K12OSN] advice on surplus hardware

["Terrell Prudé, Jr."]

Ben Nickell wrote:

>I have the opportunity to salvage some old hardware.  I would appreciate
>advice on whether any of this is worthwhile for use in  thin clients.  
>I'm only interested in it if it is easy or will work out of the box or
>could replace a less capable part in another system (network or video
>card).  
>
>Here are the specs. 
>
>AT power supply
>P1 200 MMX processors
>96mb of RAM in (6) 72pin SIMMS
>3com 905-TX rev B 10/100 network cards with bootrom slot 
>(Don't think it will  PXE boot though, doesn't it have to be Rev C to
>PXE boot?)
>ATI 3d Rage II+ DVD video cards, video ram unknown.
>
>Does anyone have experience with this hardware?
>
>To netboot those network cards, is the easiest way to purchase bootroms?
>
>Thanks in advance,
>Ben Nickell
>  
>

The one I'm typing on now is similar to yours:

Pentium-166 (not MMX)
32MB DRAM
3Com 3C905b-TX
S3 Trio64 video board

I use an EtherBoot floppy for the 3C905 to netboot this guy.  Works very 
well.  You're right; they don't PXE boot, but if you've got a boot ROM 
in it, it'll use EtherBoot.  I simulate this with a floppy, made from 
the Rom-O-Matic image.

--TP