Win9x boards

  • Thread starter Thread starter mayayana
  • Start date Start date
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mayayana

I'm running 98SE and Linux, and also have
several friends running 9x, for whom I've built
systems in the past.

The store where I used to buy parts is now
only selling a few boards, and none that fully
support 9x.

As near as I can tell, Intel, NVidia and ATI
chipsets are all now not supporting 9x (and
I've heard bad things about ATI with Linux).
Via seems to be fine, with a single driver
package for all, and that's what I have on my
current machine.

I'm a bit out of touch, not having made a machine
for a couple of years. So I'd appreciate advice
from people who might be running 9x/Linux.
Is Via the chipset to get? Do I need to avoid
SATA, or is that an optional feature in most boards?
Should I buy online?
(I'm in Boston, MA but even being in a big city most
shops now just carry 2 or 3 options for boards.)
If I buy online, where's the best?
 
mayayana said:
I'm running 98SE and Linux, and also have
several friends running 9x, for whom I've built
systems in the past.

The store where I used to buy parts is now
only selling a few boards, and none that fully
support 9x.

As near as I can tell, Intel, NVidia and ATI
chipsets are all now not supporting 9x (and
I've heard bad things about ATI with Linux).
Via seems to be fine, with a single driver
package for all, and that's what I have on my
current machine.

I'm a bit out of touch, not having made a machine
for a couple of years. So I'd appreciate advice
from people who might be running 9x/Linux.
Is Via the chipset to get? Do I need to avoid
SATA, or is that an optional feature in most boards?
Should I buy online?
(I'm in Boston, MA but even being in a big city most
shops now just carry 2 or 3 options for boards.)
If I buy online, where's the best?
Click to expand...

I would go to a Linux newsgroup and ask them for the defacto standard in
current hardware. Mandrake newsgroup is a good one. I run Win98SE and
Linux on an Asus P4B533 mb w/GF4 video card but you won't find that mb
now except on eBay.
 
I'm running 98SE and Linux, and also have
several friends running 9x, for whom I've built
systems in the past.

The store where I used to buy parts is now
only selling a few boards, and none that fully
support 9x.

As near as I can tell, Intel, NVidia and ATI
chipsets are all now not supporting 9x (and
I've heard bad things about ATI with Linux).
Via seems to be fine, with a single driver
package for all, and that's what I have on my
current machine.

I'm a bit out of touch, not having made a machine
for a couple of years. So I'd appreciate advice
from people who might be running 9x/Linux.
Is Via the chipset to get? Do I need to avoid
Click to expand...

I have a Via pm266 and it is fine with 9x. It's also a tiny board,
used in a lot of mini-ATX (or whatever they call them) machines from a
few years ago.

It's dated, though. If you want something powerful it's not a great
choice.

Do a keyword search for Wordperfect 5.1 (the old DOS program). It
still has a big following and users want new 9x systems because they
will run WP 5.1 in DOS mode... there might be some information there
about the most up-to-date boards that are good for 9x.
SATA, or is that an optional feature in most boards?
Should I buy online?
(I'm in Boston, MA but even being in a big city most
shops now just carry 2 or 3 options for boards.)
If I buy online, where's the best?
Click to expand...

Buy online. Stores can't match the prices because of higher overhead.
I suggest you go to motherboards.org and use their search utility. I
had good luck with zipzoomfly, buy.com, mwave.com, buying various
components from whoever was cheapest.

Charlie
 
mayayana said:
The store where I used to buy parts is now
only selling a few boards, and none that fully
support 9x.

As near as I can tell, Intel, NVidia and ATI
chipsets are all now not supporting 9x
Click to expand...
Is Via the chipset to get?
Click to expand...

NVidia still does, for the NForce3, including USB2, contrary to what's
claimed. I timed a USB2 HD and got 6MB-12MB/sec. While that's way
below the maximum 60MB/sec
for USB2, it's a lot faster than the max. 1.5MB/sec for USB1. However
I couldn't find the USB2 driver at NVidia.com and had to get it from
the mobo manufacturer, ECS in my case.

I think that SiS supports 98SE for all its chipsets but not for USB2.
However NEC USB2 cards can be found for $10-15..
 
NVidia still does, for the NForce3, including USB2, contrary to what's
claimed
Click to expand...

I noticed that there are NForce3 drivers for Win9x, but
the boards I've looked at with an NVidia chipset seem to
all be using NForce4, which only has 2000/XP drivers.
I guess the problem is that retail offline stores only want
to carry a limited line of the latest models, with a higher
markup, and the latest is starting to leave out Win98.
 
Buy online. Stores can't match the prices because of higher overhead.
I suggest you go to motherboards.org and use their search utility. I
had good luck with zipzoomfly, buy.com, mwave.com, buying various
components from whoever was cheapest.
Click to expand...
I was trying to avoid buying online but it does seem
that online stores also have far more variety, along
with the good prices.
What about Tigerdirect? (I looked at their site
first yesterday because it was the only name I knew.)
Their combo board/CPU deals and barebones kits look
like an easy way to buy, but I don't know anything about
their reputation.
 
I'm a bit out of touch, not having made a machine
for a couple of years. So I'd appreciate advice
from people who might be running 9x/Linux.
Is Via the chipset to get? Do I need to avoid
SATA, or is that an optional feature in most boards?
Click to expand...

Makes absolutely no difference whatsoever for Linux
 
Makes absolutely no difference whatsoever for Linux
--
Click to expand...
Some of the boards now seem to have an ATI
chipset with both controllers and graphics. I've
been seeing posts here and there about people
who can't get the ATI graphics to work in Linux.
Also, Intel just recently started supporting Linux.
(Though I prefer AMD, anyway.)

Do you mean that all the basic chipset functionality
should be fine with whatever Linux drivers get
installed by default?
I've been wondering about that
aspect of things: In the past I've always installed
motherboard drivers with Win9x builds, but frankly
I've never noticed a difference between the functionality
that the chipset maker's driver provides, as opposed
to the default drivers that come with Win9x. So I
wonder how much it matters whether, say, NVidia
NForce4 or ATI RADEON specifically support Win9x.
 
I was trying to avoid buying online but it does seem
that online stores also have far more variety, along
with the good prices.
What about Tigerdirect? (I looked at their site
first yesterday because it was the only name I knew.)
Their combo board/CPU deals and barebones kits look
like an easy way to buy, but I don't know anything about
their reputation.
Click to expand...
I haven't bought anything from them, but Barry, who posts in here
quite a bit, likes them.

Charlie
 
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