Subject: Home computer choices

From: [email-masked] (Joe M Leonard)
Date: Wed, 4 Jan 1995 15:56:24 -0500

Folks,

	I'm currently looking at upgrading my home computer (a MacIIci,
remember them :-), and have a couple of questions for the Mac/PC users
on the net...

1) Is there a way of telling whether the chip in a pentium PC is a "good"
or "bad" chip (like the old double-sigma's)?  I've seen posts about
tests that can be run, but is there any before-purchase things that
can be done?

2) Have folks gotten linux running on Pentiums - or are they merely
running 486 code that doesn't know or care the difference?  I assume
there are different instructions in a Pentium, or am I full of it
with this?

3) Are there graphics cards that should be used and/or avoided (in
Dos/Windows and in linux)?  Several vendors mention Diamond Stealth
cards, for example - do these work with Linux? Win3.1? etc...

4) Have people used CD-ROM's that are external and swappable between
PC's and Mac's (obviously a SCSI device)?  Any comments on who's
to use?

5) Are there fortran compilers for the Mac (There seem to be several
good ones for the PC)?  If so, who are they, and do they have
anything resembling the tools on a workstation?  I'll also take recommendations
for C compilers for the Mac...

6) Are the Windows development environments "good enough" to keep one
>from having to reboot the machine when the code being developed
crashes (possibly stupid question #106)?  How about on the Mac?

Yes, I'm rather used to workstations...

7) Finally are there PC vendors that I should use and or avoid?

Thanks for your comments (well, the comments I expect to get :-)!
I'd love to get a big SGI or IBM at home, but I'd rather not be killed
in my sleep...

Joe Leonard
[email-masked]