[K12OSN] using really old PCs as clients

Mon Oct 12 02:29:11 UTC 2009

Robert Arkiletian wrote:
> On Sun, Oct 11, 2009 at 8:44 AM, raju VK <vkr2007 at gmail.com> wrote:
>   
>> I have successfully installed the terminal server on my fc10 desktop.. Now
>> my question is now I can use some vintage (1998/99) PCs as clients. The PCs
>> has no option to boot from network. Other wise they are still functional. If
>>     
>
> You can use floppy disks with etherboot. See http://rom-o-matic.net/
>   

I still do this with some AMD K6-2's from that time period.  The 
motherboard is the Tyan S1590S Trinity, and the things work *great* as 
LTSP clients.  My choice of PCI NIC's (PCI has been the norm since 1996, 
don't bother with ISA cards) is any of the following:

- Realtek 8129,
- 3Com 3C905 (any revision),
- Intel EtherExpress Pro/100B,
- or *anything* that supports PXE-boot.

If you want solid video performance, including streaming video, then 
consider any ATI Radeon from 8500 and earlier, or the Matrox Millenium 
G400.  Both are excellent, both are supported in their acceleration 
modes in LTSP's X11, and I know from experience that the Millenium G400 
*will* handle 640x480 video at full speed.  For "good enough" video (i. 
e. OpenOffice.org, Firefox, no heavy video), the ATI 3D Rage Pro's are 
quite fine.  Leave nVidious alone due to X11 driver issues and their 
policy of not publishing their specs (read: binary blobs only).  They'll 
work...but only in VESA mode, which means they'll be S-L-O-W.

--TP
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