Baslinux mailing list

["David Lane" <Jaypooh3 AT hotmail.com>]

Sindi,

There never has been any consistency in older mother-boards being able to
handle Windows.I have an older 586 AMD PCCHIPS mother board that handled one
version of Win95 but not another,but ran blazingly fast with the one that
worked.With Win 3.11 WFWG and DOS 6.22 it was a very dependable PC that
networked well,ran most any game (16 bit or DOS) and ran a BBS for over a
year with no complaint.The versions of Windows are not even consistent in
how they run on two identical machines.The DOS foundation usually runs fine
regardless,although that can give you fits.The point is,a lot of these old
PCs ran OEM versions of Windows,tailored for them,and generic installs
sometimes fair badly.It's a crap-shoot.Given good RAM,CPUs and clean
connectors (don't overlook corrosion,esp black corrosion),they should all
work with Linux to some degree.
   Of course some could have bad resistors (esp power regulators) and
capacitors.With heat and age anything is possible.One thing too that you
might overlook,I've noticed that Linux keeps a processor a lot more active
than DOS and even Win95.That has to translate into heat.Some of the older
CPUs were not cooled that well.With Windows 95 (which a lot were made
for)and the limited RAM of the time,processors didn't get that hot.Some that
had nothing,under Linux may need heat-sinks,some with heat-sinks,may need
heat-sinks and fans.It's only limited by how much you want to fool with them
until you determine,it just isn't going to work,or you get them running.You
gotta admit,it's more fun than a lot of things you could be doing (and more
frustrating!........lol)

David Lane