The 1998 Systems that started this all off.
It was a very "innocent" time all those years ago. The millenium bug was something people were only just hearing about, and getting needlessly frightened about! The monstrosity that became known as Windows ME was yet to be unleashed on an unsuspecting public and, sadly, PC prices in the UK were through the roof. In the midst of the "dotcom" boom for some reason, UK PC manufacturers thought it was a good idea to charge fortunes for complete systems. At the same time, there wasnt as much of a "general knowledge" of PCs for people to build their own. Linux was hardly known but people were getting interested. Rumours in the PC mags hinted that you could buy systems with non-MS software installed but these were rare or very, very expensive (or Macs...)
It was into this climate that the idea of building your own pc for Linux was born.
The Windows System
The 1998 version of this site was trying to get a self built PC that could match this one, which was available from several shops at the time:
- Pentium P300MMX Processor
- 512K Pipeline burst cache
- 32 MB SDRAM
- 4.3Gb UDMA Hard Drive
- 14" SVGA Monitor
- Accelerated graphics card + Mpeg.
- 24 Speed CD-Rom
- 16bit soundcard
- 200 Watt speakers
- Windows 95
- Keyboard
- 3 button mouse
All this was available for £650. This system may seem insanely underpowered now but it was pretty good at the time! Note: other than the OS, this system came with NO software, no modem and no back up devices.
The Linux System.
The best we could do - given the criteria (server etc) for the Linux system was:
- Pentium P200MMX
- 64Mb EDO RAM
- SIS5571 motherboard
- A single Seagate 2.1Gb UDMA hard disk
- 17" Monitor
- 2Mb PCI S3 Trio 64+ video card
- 24 Speed CD-Rom
- 33.6Kps Modem
- Internal Ditto Max
- Soundblaster 16
- 200 watt speakers
- 3.5" Floppy drive
- Keyboard
- Mouse
- Full Tower case (230 watt PSU)
This system cost us £857. In some areas the windows PC was better specified than the Linux one, so some people may have considered the task a failure. However, this is not the case. In some critical areas the Linux PC had much better equipment than the windows machine - eg 64mb RAM - and the areas which let it down are not that important for our needs (eg Processor). Another strength of the Linux machine was the Ditto Max tape backup - this is essential if the computer is going to act as a server of any description.. One weakness the Linux box did have was hard disk capacity, although at the time 2-4Gb hard disks were fine by pretty much anyones standards....
Obviously, the major strength the Linux PC had was it is capable of acting as a fully functional server, firewall etc AND came with all manner of software ranging from C Compilers to Office Packages. However, our goal now is to not just beat the Win PC on capability, but to match or exceed its price and power.
