1 Jun
2008
1 Jun
'08
6:13 p.m.
On Thu, May 29, 2008 at 10:34:49AM +0200, Karl Hammar wrote:
Dave:
...
I have an ASUS barebone Z96F, into which I plopped a 2.33Ghz 7500 Intel Core 2 Duo CPU
(which ASUS said wasn't supported, but it works fine), 2GB RAM, and a 100GB 7500RPM
PATA drive (which also wasn't supported). So basically I built myself MacBook Pro, for
a little over US$1000 at the time.
Only trouble I ran into, is that using a PATA drive on these laptops is a BAD IDEA.
That's because there is no PATA interface in computer! The chipset only understands
SATA, and there's a goofy, lousy, crappy hack somewhere on the motherboard that makes
the PATA drive appear as a SATA drive to the rest of the machine. Thus: the BIOS
doesn't even recognize my drive. However, the linux drivers have no problem with this,
and the drive works fine once I tell the BIOS to boot anyway even though it thinks there
are no drives in the machine.
-ken
I'd like to purchase a machine strong enough
to handle my work with the
AVSynthesis software. My desktop boxes include 2.0 and 2.4 GHz CPUs,
with 3 and 2 GB memory, and they are not powerful enough for some of the
combined OpenGL/Csound realtime processing. I'll need a machine with a
very fast CPU (preferably 64-bit), large HD support, large RAM capacity,
and accelerated 3D-capable graphics. The on-board sound will be replaced
by an external device, preferably *not* a USB audio device. I want very
high-quality audio, and eventually I'll need support for multichannel
output. The display doesn't have to be humongous, just very clear.
...
Could a barebone laptop be a solution?
If you go to http://www.intel.com/go/VerifiedByIntel/, you will
find a link to
http://cache-www.intel.com/cd/00/00/38/70/387018_387018.pdf
which presents the barebones Intel has "verified".
To get more info from them you have to be accepted as a partner, it
seems.
I have not found any notebook barebones for AMD.
The good points are:
. the cpu is pin-mounted, i.e. you can choose your own and upgrade
the cpu (amd notebooks all has pins/socketed, not soldered, from what
I have found out)
. you can choose any socket P processor, the fastest I can order from my
distributer is currently Intel Core2duo T9300 2.5GHz 800/6M
. any sata (normal length) 2.5" disk you like
. your choise of memory size (up to 4GB)
. an optional mini-pci-express, mostly wifi-lan cards
. no os included
. firewire (4-pin), usb
The bad parts:
. pc-card-express, sorry no pc-card
. the one I got came without any documentation whatsoever and none to
be found on the net
. the infamous hd-intel soundchip
. you will probably need close-source drivers for the 3D graphics
I am testing an Asus one (AS96SP965PM2) for the moment which I might
resell for 4160SEK+vat (that would be something like 250USD). To make
a working notebook you have to add cpu, disk, memory, and software.
Also check whether keyboard, batteries and power adapter is included.
Perhaps you can find a reseller in your area for such a ting.
I am currently trying to find out which (Linux) drivers which works on
this one.