Return to Hardware InformationThis is a guideline which can be used to help in the process of ordering equipment. It is provided to allow someone with minimal knowledge in hardware to apply a basic check list when ordering user devices. However, the more that you know about the hardware the better purchasing decision will be. The specifications listed below have been divided into several sections. Each successive section is dependent on the previous section (e.g. a Web Foundry would assume the existence of a CD-ROM). The "Minimum Requirements" section lists the essential hardware & features that enable a user device to access the Internet in accordance with CK:P's baseline environment. The "High End" is more commonly referred to as a multi-media computer (MPC Level2 Compliant, actually) with the slight modification of the addition of a scanner. The "Windows 95" section will provide you with the strongly suggested minimum configuration if you are planning on upgrading to Windows 95. Likewise the "Web Foundry" has many of the same requirements as a Windows95 configurations but with a stronger emphasis on visual work. And finally the "Additional Features" section lists the important features that are necessary if the computer is expected to be upgradeable.
The following is a known list of vendors for hardware that is currently in production within the CK:P environment. This is not necessarily all the possibilities, simply a list of vendors whose hardware CK:P has experience with and recommends.
| Recommendations | Notes |
|---|---|
| SMC Ultra Elite 16bit EtherCard w/10baseT & 10base2 connectors. | The Network Interface Card simply needs to be 16 bits and *must* have a 10baseT AND 10base2 connector. Both connector types are used at CK:P sites. The NIC should also have at least 64k of RAM. |
| DEC EtherWorks 3 Turbo 16bit Ethernet Card w/10baseT, 10base2 & AUI connectors. | |
| Intel EtherExpress 16bit Ethernet Card w/10baseT connector. |
| Recommendations | Notes |
|---|---|
| ATI mach 64 2Mb VRAM with expansion slot for 2Mb upgrade. | Video Cards are basically defined by two characteristics, VRAM and speed. The amount of VRAM that a card contains determines the resolution and amount of color that can be displayed. Each pixel displayed on the screen requires either 1, 4, 8, 16, or 24 bits of memory in VRAM. The more bits used to display a pixel, the more colors that bit can represent. The resolution is also confined by the monitor, as one would expect. Speed is dependent on the chip on the card (e.g. S3, MACH64, Trident) and the path to the main CPU (e.g. ISA, VESA Local Bus, PCI, EISA). The chips are rated with many different benchmarks, and under many different conditions, therefore, it is difficult to determine which chip is the best. CK:P has experience with, and recommends, the S3 or ATI MACH64 chip. If speed is a factor, a VESA Local Bus or PCI card in a necessity. |
| Number 9 GXE Pro 64 2Mb VRAM with expansion slot for 2Mb upgrade. |
| Recommendations | Notes |
|---|---|
| BusLogic BT-440c (VESA Local Bus) or BT-940c (PCI) SCSI-2 controllers. | Peripherals that are not attached directly to the bus via a expansion slot (i.e. Hard Drive, Tape Drive), must access the CPU via an alternate route. The two most common controller for this purpose are IDE and SCSI (MFM and ESDI are prehistoric). IDE, although cheaper, has several drawbacks. First, it can only support two peripherals, SCSI can support 7. Secondly, there is a limited amount of peripherals that are compatible with IDE; CK:P is only aware of Hard Drives, CD-Roms. The known peripherals that are compatible with SCSI are: Hard Drives, CD-Roms, Scanners, Tape Drives. And finally, SCSI-2 is faster, basically because it transfers data with 32bits in parallel; and does not rely on PIO (a method of communicating with the CPU that IDE uses.) |
| NCR on-board (on the mother board) chip. |
| Recommendations | Notes |
|---|---|
| Toshiba 3401b SCSI-2 Double Speed CD-ROM. | CK:P recommends SCSI-2 CD-Roms (i.e. Toshiba 3401), however that is not always possible since some user devices do not have a SCSI controller. Furthermore, if there is an available 5.25" external bay in the case then the CD-ROM should be internal. |
| DEC SCSI-2 Double Speed CD-ROM. | |
| NEC IDE Double Speed CD-ROM (only for Non-SCSI user devices). |
| Recommendations | Notes |
|---|---|
| Intel (all). | The Central Processing Unit is the main component of the computer. The faster the CPU, the faster the computer. CPUs are measured by the frequency of the clock cycle of the CPU. Therefore, CPUs are rated in Megahertz. The architecture of the CPU, determines what exactly that CPU can perform in one clock cycle. The P5 (Pentium) is designed more efficiently to process data in a clock cycle then the 486. The 486 is better designed then the 386, etc. CK:P has experience with both the AMD and Intel CPU, and recommend both. |
| AMD 486DX-66. |
| Recommendations | Notes |
|---|---|
| Phoenix: version 4.04 | BIOS provides the basic information necessary for the different hardware components to talk to each other. Newer BIOS versions support Plug and Play, Enhanced IDE and more. |
| AMI: |
| Recommendations | Notes |
|---|---|
| VESA or PCI bus with 72 pin SIMM sockets | CK:P recommends a mother board with at least 3 ISA slots and at least 2 VESA Local Bus or PCI slots. The motherboard should be capable of supporting 72 Pin Simms in AT MOST pairs of 2. Each pair of Simms should be able to support either 4Mb, 8Mb, 16Mb, or 32Mb Simms. |
| Recommendations | Notes |
|---|---|
| No recommendations at this time. |
| Recommendations | Notes |
|---|---|
| 72 pin SIMM | The 72 pin SIMM is the standard. Avoid 30 pin Simms, less and less motherboards are capable of housing them. Simms are measured by their transfer rate, therefore a lower rating is better (e.g. a 60ns SIMM is faster then a 70ns SIMM.) |
| Recommendations | Notes |
|---|---|
| CTX 1785. | Monitors simply determine, along with the amount of VRAM on the Video Card, the maximum resolution that can be displayed. The difference in most monitors is "how" they display the pixels. Monitors have 3 color guns (Red, Green, Blue) which constantly draw the screen. The speed at which the guns draw the horizontal line, and the speed at which the guns reset back to the top are called horizontal sync and vertical sync, respectively. This frequency changes depending on the resolution that is being displayed. Therefore, a sync of 60Hz may look good at 800x600, but very bad at 1024x768. CK:P recommends a sync rate of 70Hz or greater for a resolution of 1024x768. |
| Recommendations | Notes |
|---|---|
| CK:P has yet to "not" recommend a keyboard. Location of the back-space key "\" is usually the only concern. Several vendors place this key in awkward locations (e.g. down by the right control key). Right above the "enter" key is a good location. |
| Recommendations | Notes |
|---|---|
| HP LaserJet 4P with JetDirect Card containing PostScript SIMM & lpr SIMM. | CK:P has very little experience in printers at this time. Currently, the Hewlett Packard Laser Jet 4P and the Apple IINT Laser Printer are the only recommended printers based on experience. |
| Apple Laser Printer Pro 630. |
| Recommendations | Notes |
|---|---|
| HP IIcx ScanJet. | As with the Printer, CK:P has limited experience with scanners. However, the one scanner that we have tested has performed very well. |
The following is a list of vendors whose hardware CK:P has had experience with and recommends to avoid that particular peripheral or component. This does not mean that every product from this vendor is taboo, it simply means that CK:P DID have problems with the hardware in question.
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