BL> I use an internal modem because I like it that way. I'm not
BL> fascinated by coloured lights...

DD> One doesn't have to be "fascinated by coloured lights" to use a
DD> modem that operates regardless of what the OS is. 

 Actually, there are technical reasons to do with lightning strikes,
but I didn't want to confuse you.

DD> Cabled networks are rated at 10Mbps, 100Mbps or 1000Mbps.

DD> Wireless are "up to 11Mbps, up to 22Mbps and the newest one is
DD> up to 54Mbps". Actual effective throughput is somewhat less
DD> than the rated speed. 

 I wonder why? There's no technical reason that UHF can't carry 100
MHz bandwidth. What's the bandwidth of USB?

BL> I want to run Linux and Windows, and re-booting every time
BL> gives me the shits! They're both incredibly slow to boot. My
BL> idea is to use *this* computer as the Linux box
BL> (firewall/gateway, KDE and all), and buy a new one for Windows
BL> that I can network off the old one and run Win311 on too.

DD> OK - as long as none of your windows machines is connectied
DD> directly to the outside world... 

 That's the plan. If I have to buy a new box, even the el-cheapo 
bottom-of-the-line is capable of running full Linux.

BL> Since last we spoke, I actually tried to load Linux on the old
BL> 486, and as expected it barfed. It doesn't like my VESA IDE
BL> controller.

DD> It runs here on a VESA SCSI card... What distribution are you
DD> trying to load? 

 I dunno. It's the SuSE 7.2 "minimum" that is alleged to work on
anything. Their HELP says is could be the BIOS.

DD> Hmmm OS/2 ran OK on my VESA 486 too. It (the 486) doesn't even
DD> have a flashable BIOS... 

 Flash wasn't even invented yet when they pirated my BIOS.

DD> The "newest" machine I have here at home is a PIII-550. It does
DD> what I ask of a computer. At this stage I feel no need to
DD> upgrade (I don't play bleeding edge computer games on it - I
DD> don't play any games on it....) 

 Yair... I know. My 486 and Win311 was perfectly adequate... but to
go 32-bit I had to upgrade. We're close to the end now, with 400MHz
bus and 80Gb hard drives. Any upgrade from that is just plain silly.
But USB is handy, and wireless would be nice...

Regards,
Bob


--- BQWK Alpha 0.5