My Old Linux Workstation

This machine was used between september 1992 and january 1999. It does not exist anymore; some parts have been recycled in other computers.

CPU  Intel 486 DX 50 Sep 1992
  One of the very few real 50 MHz CPUs. It's running perfect and without any problems - for six years now.  
RAM  20 MB (4x4MB + 4x1MB SIMM) Aug 1997
  Enough for working in X11 while compiling the latest Linux kernel in the background  
SCSI-Interface  Adaptec 1542CF Jan 1998
  A rather high-end ISA interface. Runs well with 5 MB/sec  
Harddisk  IBM DCAS 43440 (4.3 GB) Jan 1998
  Big enough, but currently more than 50% filled.
Lost one sector in Nov 1998.
 
Soundcard  OPTi 82C931 PnP Sep 1997
  A real cheap and buggy (can only be initialized with it's own DOS program) soundcard, but the sound itself is allright - as long, as you don't expect HiFi-sound from it.  
Graphics Card  Trident 8900D Oct 1998
  A really historic card. 256 colors are really painful, especially when you such nice and colorful window managers like Window Maker.
But at least, it runs with 1152x864 pixels with an acceptable refresh rate.
 
Monitor  NEC Multisync 5E Sep 1998
  Finally - for the sixth birthday of my oldtimer, I've spent him a 17" monitor. It's a used one but the picture is excellent.
Now, X11 with 1152x864 is possible.
The only strange thing - it's a very, very unknown model. It's even not mentioned on the NEC web site.
 
Modem  NoName 14400 intern Sep 1994
  Works well and without any problems. It can also handle faxes - unter Linux really neat. But of course - 14400 is an anachronism in the days of 56K and ISDN.  
Streamer  Archive/ESCOM 32150Q on an FC-10 card Apr 1998
  A fair QIC80 (120 MB uncompressed) streamer. Much more quiet than my Colorado Jumbo 120 (QIC40) before, but it produces lots of (correctable) ECC errors.  
CD-ROM  BTC CDD-157 Feb 1997
  A strange model. It took me several days to find drivers for it. Under Linux, it works allright, though xmcd doesn't like it. It's almost impossible to find the "right" driver for it.  
Mouse  Qtronix Sep 1992
  Another very reliable thing. I never had any problems with that mouse.  
Case  NoName Big Tower, 200W Dec 1996
  Only a huge case can hold all my hardware  
Printer  HP Deskjet 500 Sep 1992
  Compared to today's printers, this model is a real historic, but absolutely useful one. It runs perfect within my Linux environment. The counter relais, I installed on it currently counts more than 9000 pages, printed with it.  
Network Card  NE2000 Oct 1998
  Runs without any problems. The only bad thing - it just works with low IRQs, although it's a 16 bit card.  
RDS Interface  Conrad RDS-Manager, modified by me Aug 1997
  A little soldering and now it works with my computer. Too bad, that I don't have any device-writing capabilities for Linux. Having a nice X-Display with information about the current radio program would be really cool.  
DCF77-Interdace  Conrad Electronics Jan 1997
  When I used my computer for timing my watches, I quickly discovered, that the system clock is hopelessly inaccurate - sometimes even more than my handwinding watches. But with my DCF 77 interface, it runs now at atomic precision.  
 
Operating systems  Linux (2.2.0) May 1994
  Hey, my machine is a Workstation, not a toy...  
Bootloader  MSDOS (6.22) May 1994
  Forgive me, but my Soundcard can be initialized in DOS only (really). But well - loadlin is a good Linux loader...