Hi Russell, At 12:22 PM 5/01/2013, Russell Coker wrote: >On Sat, 5 Jan 2013, Andrew Voumard <[email protected]> wrote: > > Can anyone offer any suggestions regarding the following requirement > > for a new motherboard/system. It is only being used for business, and > > mainly for compiling/running multiple back end Java, C+++ etc applications: > > > > 1. Gaming/overclocking not a priority at all. A $20 graphic card or > > onboard graphics should do fine. > > > > 2. Stability & performance are most important. > >You might want to check what Dell offers. The bigger PowerEdge workstations >support 64G of RAM and probably get a lot more testing than any white-box >motherboard that can support so much RAM.
Ok, will look at them. > > 6. Want Intel (not AMD) based, probably i7 & proably Ivy Bridge. > >Why specifically Intel? Previously had heat & driver issues with AMD (can't recall which chipset that was now), while I am sure many folks are happy with them, I am happy with all the Intel based boards I've used and haven't had similar issues with them. > > 7. Either a PS/2 mouse port or 9 Serial port is essential (for the > > special mouse I use) - either onboard or via a PCI/e expansion board are > > ok. > >As has already been noted a PS/2 mouse port will be a really difficult >requirement. Getting a system that has a PS/2 port and supports 64G of RAM >will be really difficult. Maybe one option to consider would be >NVRAM devices >for swap to support the large tmpfs you need. Some of the better NVRAM >devices are fast enough that you probably won't notice that it's not in main >memory. I am thinking NVRAM performance would be slower (to some degree) than main memory, and I expect the hardware is less mainstream & hence more expensive ? > > Probably looking at running 64 bit Ubuntu 10.04.x (Gnome) or Kubuntu > > 12.04.x (KDE) as the host (to get LTS & a traditional desktop UI), > > with 32 bit Windows XP in a virtualbox for occasional use with basic > > business & legacy applications. > >I haven't been following UEFI etc because for quite a while I've been getting >my workstations from second-hand sales and recycling so it will be quite a >while before I get hardware such secure boot support. But from what I recall >Ubuntu will be using a shim boot loader to support secure boot, so this >shouldn't be a problem for you. > >Given some of your other requirements you might want to rely on Ubuntu >supporting secure boot (or using Fedora/RHEL otherwise) and concentrate on >other issues. My only concern is if I want to write/load any custom drivers, that I don't want to be spending time sorting out any driver signing hassles, & it also gives me the freedom to run a non signed distro if I find the need - I like choice to be completely in my hands if I spent the money on the hardware :) I am expecting most mobo suppliers will provide such an option (for x86, they _have_ to, to comply with putting a Win8 sticker on their hardware), but it's awlays easier getting confirmation of that before, rather than after purchase :) Thanks Andrew _______________________________________________ luv-main mailing list [email protected] http://lists.luv.asn.au/listinfo/luv-main
