On 28-Aug-98 Jerry Treweek wrote:
>
> There is a bewildering plethora of choice out there and I would be
> interested in seeing what opinions and experiences the java-linux
> community had to offer in respect of selecting components for a
> compilation machine, specifically,
>
> CPU
> Chip set
> Motherboard
> Memory
You forget the most important part (for a compilation machine) namely
the disk subsystem. Get a lot of memory (128Mb, or even 256Mb will
do fine, but more is better), and a couple of U2W (they're backwards
compatible with the UW ones and cost no more) on a dual Adaptec
controller (Intel, Asus, Gigabyte, SuperMicro etc make nice boards
with integrated SCSI controllers). Get two PII-266 or PII-300
processors (they're really cheap now) instead of one PII-400.
I have a dual PII-266 (Intel Dakota, with 128Mb and SCSI disks
and I compile the Linux kernel in about 7 minutes, honest).
>
> It does seem that most CPU design is driven by the need of the games
> players on one hand, or the business community on the other and the
> benchmarks used seem to reflect that. This seems to me to miss the needs
> of developers somewhat, as we invariably require far more out of our
> systems than (pardon the term) 'mere users'.
Don't get an IDE machine. In my experience, they're an order of
magnitude slower than a good SCSI box.
>
> My main concerns are (not necessarily in this order)
>
> reliability
> compilation speed
> longevity (upgrade ability etc.)
> price
- A dual CPU motherboard, with built-in SCSI and 100Mb/s ethernet
from a reliable supplier (see above). Get one with the BX chipset
if possible (100Mhz bus), but even an LX based board (such as the
Intel Dakota, going cheap) should be ample.
- CPU: A PII-300 is more than competent enough.
- Not necessarily the fastest CPU (CPU speed is sexy, but hugely
overrated)
- A quality case with good cooling (if it's in a cupboard, stick
in a couple of additional fans, or one of these nifty disk
coolers)
- A UPS (they're really cheap these days) does wonders for
reliability.
- Don't sacrifice to the bleeding edge.
Enjoy!
Stefaan
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___________________________________________________________________
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